AkumaAi!
by RoseyTheRunt
Summary: [CHAPTER 10 NOW UP! 23/11/13] In Progress A story on the developing forbidden love of a ninja and a Demon. will it work? will the walls blocking there way be to strong? read and find out! :D NaruSaku and a small bit of ShikaIno in chapter 3. M for language and adult situations.
1. Him

**A/N: Hello :D this is my first new Fanfic in a while so I apologize if it's rusty! Also I'm sorry my 'CardCaptor Sakura with a Twist' and 'All About Us' are taking so long I've just got severe writers block and REALLY needed to get this off my chest XD I had this idea for some time. Also when you review this please don't be harsh about my spelling because I am dyslexic. So please enjoy!**

A pink flash cartwheeled across the training filed.  
>Dodging the shurikens tossed at her with ease. <p>

"_I'm getting to good at this" _She thought confidently.

Suddenly she was ambushed by three tall men, they all looked the exact same.  
>The girl slid low to the floor and tripped them with her own feet.<br>Four more men approached her; she jumped high into the trees and slammed back down and cracked the floor beneath her where all the men fell in.

She flicked her pink head of hair back with a subtle hint of pride.

"Sakura-San, You finished that round with ease" Yamato said.

Sakura giggled and winked.

"I'm getting to good for you Yamato-Sensei!" Sakura Joked.

Soon enough they both left for Hokage Tsunade's office.

-

Yamato knocked on her office door.

"Come in" she shouted from her desk.

In walked Yamato and Sakura.  
>Already in the room was Tsunade at her desk talking with Sakura's other Sensei Kakashi.<p>

"Ah Yamato just the man I needed to talk to" Tsunade said sounding mildly serious.

"Sakura, would you mind coming back later?" Tsunade asked.

"Of course not Tsunade-San" Sakura said respectfully and exited the room.

But Sakura being Sakura couldn't stop her wandering ears.  
>Soon enough she found herself pressed against the door to listen to what they were saying.<p>

"There is a serious problem that has immerged concerning the wellbeing of our Konoha civilians" Tsunade said now completely serious.

Kakashi and Yamato stood silently and listened closely.  
>Sakura continued to listen.<p>

"There has been an S-Rank demon sighted on the outskirts of Konoha, a demon notorious for wreaking havoc on some of our allied villages" Tsunade continued.

"We need to stop this threat before it can do the same to our village, so I called both of you to find the highest ranked ninja in our village and split into two groups, one to attack the demon full force and another to be an ambush team, in case of emergency, The objective of this mission is to assassinate the demon, not to make it flee from our village is that clear?".

Sakura still listened at the door.

"_This is perfect! I've been waiting for a chance to show my strengths to Tsunade-San and maybe the whole village!" _Sakura thought to herself.

Sakura barged threw the door.

"Tsunade-San I overheard what you were saying and I think this would be the perfect opportunity for me to showcase my new talents and skills!" Sakura proclaimed.

"S-Sakura?" Tsunade said shocked that Sakura was still here.

"Please Tsunade-San I haven't had a challenging mission in months!" She begged.

"Sakura!" Tsunade said sternly.  
>Which made Sakura flinch.<p>

"I don't think you know how dangerous this mission is, this is an S-rank Demon we're talking about" Tsunade said with a hint of anger in her tone.

"Tsunade-San you said yourself that I am one of the most promising ninja in the whole village please, I know I can do this!" Sakura pleaded with a small grin on her face.

"Sakura that enough!" Tsunade retorted angrily.

The grin on Sakura's face quickly faded.

"I know how strong you are Sakura, and how much promise you have as a ninja, but this is much too dangerous for you and most other people as well" Tsunade Continued

"We need specifically trained Demon slayers for this job" Tsunade Finished.

Sakura was silent for some time.  
>Just as Kakashi was about to speak up, Sakura spoke.<p>

"You're right Tsunade-San" Sakura said sadly and retracted out of the room.

Once she closed the door she leant against it and thought a bit  
>and then began to head home.<p>

-  
>Once Sakura got to her house she sat down on her bed.<br>She thought more about what Tsunade said to her and how well she had been doing in training in the last three and a half years.

"_I'm not gonna take no for an answer! I'm going to prove how good I've become!"_ Sakura decided with a determined smile.

With that Sakura packed her necessities for the mission and headed out with the cover of nightfall.

-  
>The next morning Tsunade felt bad about how harsh she was on Sakura so she decided to visit her and apologise.<p>

She knocked on the door.  
>No answer.<br>She knocked again.  
>Still no answer.<br>She looked at her watch at realised it was 1:30  
>Either Sakura had slept in allot or she was gone out.<br>Sakura had given Tsunade a spare key in case of emergency.

"_I guess this situation __could__ count as an emergency" _Tsunade schemed.

She took the key out of her bag and opened her door.

"Sakura?"  
>"Hello? Sakura? I'm sorry about yesterday" Tsunade said hoping Sakura would answer.<p>

There was still none.

This began to worry Tsunade as Sakura would never go out for a long time without contacting Tsunade first, to make sure she knew where she was going. Then she was reminded of the incident that happened yesterday.

"_She wouldn't have..."_ Tsunade thought to herself.  
>Then she quickly ran off.<p>

She called to all her friends Ino, Tenten, Kiba and lee.  
>None of them had seen any sight of her since the day before.<p>

So she asked her Sensei Kakashi and Yamato, they hadn't seen her since last night's incident.

This was getting strange, no one, not even villagers had seen her since yesterday, her house was empty and there was no word of where she was gone.  
>Tsunade could only suspect the most obvious answer.<br>She called Kakashi and Yamato to her office again.

"I believe Sakura has taken it upon herself to go after the demon on the outskirts of konoha" Tsunade said trying to cover up how worried she was.

Kakashi and Yamato threw worried glances at each other and then looked back to Tsunade.

"I would like you to collect a team of highly skilled ninja's like we spoke about last night and head out immediately" Tsunade Ordered.

"Yes, Hokage-Sama" Kakashi and Yamato said as the teleported out of her office.

-  
>It was daylight now; Sakura had already set out looking for the possible hiding place of the demon she was searching for.<p>

_"Hmmm a hiding place of a demon? It would have to be pretty large? Unless it's a baby demon?"_

Then something dawned upon Sakura.

_"I don't even know what this demon is or what it looks like" _She thought as she face palmed.

"_Well let's see maybe I can list what I __do__ know..." _Sakura thought.

"_Hmmm... Well it's an S-Rank so it's gonna be strong, If its S-ranks it's safe to assume it's not going to be a baby if it's S-rank...hmmm"_

"Hello There Young Woman!" A voice said rather loudly from behind her.

"WAAAH!" Sakura screamed as she spun around to face the person.  
>The man flinched from her loud scream.<p>

"H-hello?" Sakura said starting to calm down  
>the man stud before her, probably confused as to why she screamed.<p>

"I'm sorry, did I startle you?" he asked.

"Just a little bit" Sakura said taking a deep breath.  
>After catching her breath Sakura took a look at the man.<br>He hand long white hair (especially for a man) he was of average height but allot taller than Sakura.

"My name is Jiraiya" The man said extending his arm for Sakura to shake.  
>Sakura looked down at his hand and back up to his face.<br>Then shook his hand.

"Sakura" She stated politely with a smile.

"Is there a reason why you all the way out here by yourself?" Jiraiya asked suspiciously.  
>Sakura thought it would be obvious as she was a Ninja, Then she remember when she went to sleep she took off her Forehead protector.<br>To him she was just any other civilian in the woods.

"I could ask you the same" Sakura said playfully.  
>Jiraiya chuckled.<p>

"I'm looking for specimen too Study"  
>Sakura thought that sounded quite strange.<br>So she decided to get what she needed to know and leave.

"You wouldn't happen to know if there is a demon spotted around here do you? Me and some of my friends were going to camp out here but I was chosen to do it by myself tonight first as a dare" Sakura lied threw her teeth.

"Hmm pretty dangerous considering there was a demon fox spotted by that cave over there" The white haired man said pointing a short distance away.

"Oh dear thank you for telling me! I'll set up camp somewhere else later!" Sakura said as she collected her things and began to walk away

"Wait don't leave!" Jiraiya called after her but she was already gone. With a sigh He got up and began looking for new 'specimen'

Sakura waited until he was gone and started heading towards that very cave he pointed to.

-  
>It was about 1pm, Sakura wasted no time in going into the cave because she knew Tsunade had probably already sent a search party for her.<p>

She cautiously started to creep into the depths of the cave.  
>It was getting darker and darker until she hit a place in the very end of the cave.<p>

It looked as if someone had crafted this place, it had a metal floor, pillars jotting out from the floor all the way to the top of the cave and a plaited design on the floor, and it also had two crafted doors at opposite ends of the room. The room was absolutely huge.

"Wow, it must have made this" Sakura spoke in amazement.  
>Suddenly there was a rumble which knocked Sakura off her feet.<p>

"Whoa" Sakura exclaimed.  
>Again there was another violent rumble, and scarily enough, Sakura noticed it was getting closer.<p>

"I guess I'm in the right place" Sakura gulped.

"**C'mon Sakura this is what you've been waiting for a chance to prove yourself!**" Sakura's inner voice said.  
>With those words of confidence Sakura took a deep breath and put on her gloves for fighting.<p>

Suddenly a giant beast immerged threw a door at the opposite end of the room.

"What the fuck..." Sakura exclaimed in shock as she stared upwards in amazement and fear at the giant nine tailed fox in front of her.  
>The Demon didn't attack, but just stared at her.<br>Sakura shifted her one of her feet backwards.  
>The Demon rushed towards her.<p>

"_Shit!"_ Sakura said as she jumped out of the way.  
>As she was hovering above the demon she decided to start unleash her 'Cherry Blossom Impact' on its back.<br>Once she did this it howled a little and slapped her away with its paw.  
>Sakura slammed off the ground but landed on her feet.<br>The beast looked angry.  
>It started to glow red.<br>It threw its paw in front of itself.  
>This confused Sakura momentarily as it missed her completely.<br>Until she was hit by a huge amount of chakra that sent her flying across the room and hit off one of the pillars.

"_Luckily I know medical Ninjutsu or I'd be done for" _Sakura said grabbing her arm and healing it.  
>The Demon spun around to face her.<br>She noticed it was limping on one paw.

"_Did I do that?" _Sakura wondered.  
>It spread out its tails and flicked them at her.<br>This sent out another rapid attack ripping through the air and crashing right into Sakura's Leg.  
>Sakura yelped from pain.<p>

Before she could recover and get up the demon fox was standing over her.

"_Holy shit this thing is big"_ She said peering up at it.  
>It lay its paw down on Sakura and began to crush her.<br>Although she noticed something strange as it put his paw on her, it was... crying?  
>There were tears streaming from its eyes.<br>Its eyes looked sad, hurt and_ lonely_.  
>Sakura could feel it getting harder and harder to breath.<br>She quickly drew out a kunai and stabbed the demons foot.  
>It's cried out in pain and retracted away from her.<p>

Once it had backed away Sakura sat up and looked over at the beast.  
>It had wrapped its tails around its paw.<br>Sakura stared at it and it stared back at her, she could almost feel its emotions.

"_I can't believe this I'm feeling guilty? This thing destroyed hundreds of villages..._" Sakura reminded herself.

She shook her head to try and rid herself of the guilt and threw some exploding Kunai at it didn't do much as it kept blocking it with its tail. Expect one. The last one Sakura threw she waited a couple of seconds and threw with the cover of the smoke from the bombs.

This one hit the demon right in the ear.  
>It yelled in pain and fell down. Its tails wrapped around its body until it was just a big fluffy ball.<p>

Sakura sat there and stared at the demon.

"_It __can't__ be that easy" _Sakura thought defensively.

The demon stayed like that for a while until it glowed red again.

"_Here we go" _Sakura thought getting ready to fight some more while still sitting down because of her painful leg.

When suddenly, the demon's skin began to moult.  
>The red flaked away as Sakura watched in astonishment.<br>Once all of the fox had disappeared it left behind something peculiar.  
>It was a boy. A young boy, about the age of Sakura.<p>

Sakura was dumbfounded.  
>She crawled over to the boy as fast as she could to check if he was alright.<p>

"_Where on earth did this boy come from?" _She wondered.  
>He was lying on his stomached with a pained expression on his face.<p>

Sakura sat him upright and placed his head on her lap.  
>She checked his pulse and noticed his heart was beating.<br>She noticed his breathing was heavy; he looked as if it was hard to do so.  
>She stared at the boy a little longer.<br>She noticed his features.  
>She also noticed he was quite attractive.<br>She shook her head and got back to the point of investigating his injures.

She realized he looked a little beaten up.  
>Then it clicked.<p>

_"Is this boy the demon I just fought?" _Sakura thought 

She lied him back down gently.  
>She then leaned over him and put her head against his chest.<br>She listened to his breathing.  
>It was husky as if he was still in pain?<p>

"_I wasn't __that__ bad was i?" _she wondered.  
>While she was wondering she let her eyes wander they soon caught sight of the top of his head, she moved his hair out of the way and realized the boy had 2 fox ears at the top of his head.<p>

Sakura blinked to re-focus her eyes when she saw this.

"_This is the demon I fought" _Sakura thought sadly

_"And I know what the problem is" _Sakura thought while she lightly moved his ear, it was still bleeding. When she touched it, it flicked. She guessed that he ears were probably sensitive and that's why the bleeding of his ear made so much of a problem for him to stay in 'demon form'

she did quite a number on his ear.  
>Her guilt began to resurface now.<br>He was pretty much defenceless in this form, well while he was unconscious anyway.

Then Sakura remembered something.

~~~ 

"_The objective of this mission is to assassinate the demon, not to make it flee from our village is that clear?"._

~~~

"I-I can't kill him!" Sakura thought franticly.  
>Her breathing rate increased as she looked downwards at the defenceless boy.<p>

Then reality hit when she realized she would probably be found by the tracking ninja if she loitered around too much so she decided to just leave.  
>She placed the boy on the ground and started to walk away. <p>

Her feet stopped.  
>Strangely she couldn't seem to move them.<br>She turned around and looked at the boy on the ground.  
>Guilt began to weigh heavily on her shoulders.<br>She focused on his ear which was still bleeding.  
>He did not look well.<p>

She didn't know what to do.  
>Hundreds of thoughts rushed threw her head when she finally settled on one.<br>One she couldn't call a smart idea.

She walked over to the boy and picked him up and put him on her back.  
>This wasn't easy.<br>He was much taller than her and she was almost half his weight.  
>But with that she left for her house in the village.<p>

-  
>END OF 1ST CHAPETER!<p>

I hope you like it I tried to make it as interesting as possible ^^' next chapter will be up soon!

__

_  
><em> 


	2. Was It Something I Said?

Sakura was pacing around her room worrying about the demon boy she just brought into her apartment.  
><em><br>"What if he is vicious, even when he's human?"_

_"What if he attacks me when he wakes up?"_

These thoughts were only some of the thoughts that crossed Sakura's mind as she paced around her room.

She stopped and looked at the boy.  
>She then realized his ear was still bleeding, so she got her medical kit and took out her bandages.<br>She walked back to her bed and sat down next to him.  
>She looked sadly at him while she wrapped the bandage around his fox ear popping out of his hair.<p>

"_I don't know anything about him" _She thought to herself.

"AH!" She remembered she had to report to Tsunade about being home and not out of the village.

She was hesitant to leave a stranger in her house in case he woke but she really didn't have any choice.  
>She walked out the door and locked it behind her.<p>

-

Awhile after Sakura left the young man opened his eyes.  
>He sat up cautiously and felt it hurt to move too much.<br>He was still dazed and didn't remember what happened before now.  
>He then got startled when he realized he didn't know where he was.<br>He jerked up off of the bed and in the process hurt his ear.  
>He yelped as he flicked his delicate ear.<p>

He stumbled up to a mirror in Sakura's room and took the bandages off his ear and saw the bloody hole in his ear.  
>He felt a little queasy.<p>

Suddenly he heard footsteps approaching the apartment he was in.

"_Gah!" _He panicked and decided to pretend he was still asleep so he lied back down on the bed. Forgetting to put the bandage back on his ear, he left it by the mirror.

Sakura walked in and put her house keys on the countertop and sighed.  
>The boy peeked out threw semi closed eyes to see who's apartment he was actually in.<br>When he did he saw the most beautiful human he had ever seen in his entire life.  
>She had her eyes closed and her head back against the cupboard, she looked fed-up.<br>He quickly closed his eyes again as he thought she'd probably notice him if he didn't.

Sakura opened her eyes and looked over at the boy 'passed out' on her bed.  
>It didn't take her long to realize her bandages were gone from the boy's ear.<br>She franticly looked around him to see if they just slipped off but they weren't there. She then looked over towards her mirror where she saw them on the counter top.

This scared Sakura.  
>She walked backwards slowly and grabbed the broom she uses to sweep the floor.<br>She approached him again.

"A-are you awake?" She asked nervously.  
>No reply.<br>She poked him with the broom.  
>She waited for him to move.<p>

He had to wake up sometime.  
>So he slowly opened his eyes to see the fearful face holding a broom in her hands<p>

the boy wondered why she had such a scared look on her face.  
>He sat up slowly in an attempt to not startle her.<br>It had the absolute opposite effect on Sakura.  
>She dropped her broom and slowly sank to the floor as he sat up.<br>She started crawling backwards.

Seeing this, He bent down to her level trying not to intimidate her.  
>This scared her even <em>more<em>.  
>She started breathing faster as she slowly moved backwards.<p>

So, Naruto followed, after all he had never been this close to a human he wasn't being attacked by before.  
>He was amazed by her.<p>

Sakura noticed she moved so far back that she was against the wall.  
>"<em>Oh shit, this is it" <em>Sakura thought.  
>She tried to read his thoughts by looking into his eyes,<br>he had such beautiful blue eyes.  
><em><strong>"<strong>__NOT THE TIME SAKURA, SNAP OUT OF IT__**"**_ She reminded herself.  
>Beautiful, but utterly unreadable.<br>_Anything_ could be on his mind right now.

She closed her eyes as he got closer.  
>"I-I'm sorry!" She choked out.<br>He stopped and stared at her.  
>She kept her eyes closed.<br>He looked slightly confused.  
>Then he pressed his ear up against her chest.<br>Sakura was still panicking.

"Are you scared?" A voice asked her  
>Sakura was quiet.<br>The boy lifted his head to look at her again.  
>Sakura realized this was his voice.<p>

"_He can speak?" _She wondered.  
>These were the first words he had said to her.<br>Sakura didn't know how to answer that question.  
>She wasn't sure by the tone of his voice was he asking her or was he telling her.<p>

"Are you scared?" He asked again but this time more concerned.  
>Her fear faded slightly, he had a nice voice.<p>

But she still was too frightened to speak. So she just shook her head slowly. She lied.  
>He knew this.<p>

"Why are you afraid of me?" he said this slowly in quite an unclear tone.  
>He was asking a question but could easily be picked up as a statement made in anger.<p>

"I-I don't know" Sakura spat out. Eventually.

"I'm sorry" He mimicked what Sakura had said before.  
>This shocked Sakura.<p>

"W-why?" She stuttered.

"Humans say when they are bad?" he questioned

"U-usually" Sakura said cautiously.  
>There was silence.<br>Sakura realized all this time that his sore ear was flopped down.  
>She didn't know why but she felt the need to touch his sore ear.<p>

She reached up and lightly touched his fox ear.  
>It flicked.<p>

"D-does it still hurt" She asked still afraid but at the same time she worried about him.  
>He nodded.<br>She slowly slipped away from the boy and got new bandages;  
>she sat back down on the floor with him and started wrapping it around his ear again.<br>He clenched his eye closest to that ear shut, it was obviously hurting him.  
>There was a distinct silence.<p>

"W-what's your name?"  
>Sakura decided to break the silence as best she could.<p>

"I have been call Kyuubi many time" he stated clearly not very good at speaking.

Sakura assumed that the boy in front of her wasn't aware what Kyuubi meant.  
>Sakura was scared to correct him as she didn't know what he was like at all.<br>Still...  
>He seemed as if he wasn't the same as the beast that attacked her.<p>

"Umm" Sakura hesitated.  
>"I don't think that's your name"<br>Naruto raised his eyebrows.

"Kyuubi means nine tails" She informed him.  
>She paused.<p>

"Do you know how to speak *Japanese?" She wondered.

"Not very much" He said sounding rather sad.

"Oh I'm sorry how rude of me, my name is Sakura"  
>She said as she finished up the bandages.<p>

"Sa-ku-ra" he repeated.  
>Sakura found this adorable.<p>

"Why am I doing here?" He asked bluntly.

"That's quite a long story" She replied.

"Who did this?" he asked as he pointed at his ear.

"_He doesn't remember?" _Sakura thought.

"...I did..." she said fearfully.  
>There was a silence.<br>He stared at her with sad eyes.  
>The silence was killing her.<p>

"Please don't be afraid of me" The fox-eared boy said as he lowered his head.  
>Sakura was a little shocked.<p>

"I did that?" he said pointing at her bruised leg.  
>Sakura looked down and back to him.<br>She opened her mouth to speak but didn't say anything

"You don't remember?" She asked eventually.

"No, when...other me takes power I wake up and fall asleep"

Sakura could tell he tried his best to word that sentence.

"You mean you black out when the Kyuubi takes over? And you fade in and out of consciousness?"  
>He nodded.<p>

"I'm sorry" He repeated.

"_Who knew that there was a person with real emotions inside that demon, life must have been hard for him... being alone and attack by ninja's"_

Sakura didn't know why but she felt the need to comfort him.  
>She put her hand on his face.<br>"Are you ok?" She asked him.  
>This question seemed to confuse him.<br>It was clear he had never been asked this question before.

"Hmmm... do you feel pain? Is the pain gone?"  
>She said making the question slightly easier.<p>

"Gone!" He said with a smile.  
>He had an irresistible smile.<br>There was another silence.

"You are Delicious" The boy in front of her said with a smile.  
>This sent Sakura from her relatively calm state back to a state of alarm.<p>

"Don't eat me!" She proclaimed as she shuffled backwards.  
>This surprised him as that, to him was a strange reaction after he complimented her...didn't he?<p>

"No?" He questioned.

"I'm not hungry?" He said stupidly.  
>This didn't calm her down.<p>

"You-You are nice?" he stated questionably, waiting for Sakura to understand and correct him.

Now Sakura understood, he meant to say pretty.  
>She calmed down again as she realized he wasn't going to eat her.<br>She started laughing.  
>This caused him to smile.<p>

"You meant to say pretty?" She said still laughing.

"Is not the same?" he asked.

"No," she giggled.

"To say delicious is if you are planning to eat food  
>Pretty is when you're talking about how someone looks" Sakura explained with actions to make sure he knew what she was explaining to him.<p>

This caused him to laugh also.  
>After the laughing died out she realized he just complimented her.<p>

"T-thank you" she smiled.  
>He smiled back.<br>Sakura looked out her window and realized how dark it was after getting.

"Oh shit I didn't realize how late it was"

"Do you want to stay here tonight and you can go home tomorrow? It's probably dangerous for you to be around alone with a wound like that" she asked.  
>He didn't understand.<br>She lifted him up by his arm and moved him over to her bed.

"You stay here tonight?" She asked while making hand movements.  
>NOW he understood.<br>He agreed.  
>Sakura brought out quilts for her to sleep on for the night.<p>

"Goodnight" she said as she turned off the light.  
>"Goodnight" He mimicked.<p>

-  
>An hour later Sakura was finding it hard to sleep.<p>

_"Why do I have a sad feeling in my stomach" _  
>Sakura kind of knew the answer, she just didn't want to admit it to herself.<p>

She rolled over and looked at the boy in her bed.

"_I'm __not__ getting attached to him"._

_"...am i?" _  
>She felt the sad feeling again.<p>

_"I feel like i...i don't want him to leave...?"_

_**"Don't be ridiculous, you don't even know him."**_  
>Her inner Sakura stated.<p>

_"Of course, your right I'm just being foolish"  
><em>She shut her eyes and tried to sleep again.

Meanwhile the fox eared boy lying in her bed also couldn't sleep.  
>He glanced over his shoulder at the pink haired beauty lying on the floor next to the bed.<p>

He really wasn't very articulate.  
>Although he knew he really liked her.<br>He didn't know how to express it. At all.  
>He sighed.<p>

Sakura tossed around a bit on the floor.  
>He turned over to look at her.<p>

He frowned.  
>She didn't look very comfortable.<br>He got down to her level and lifted her up.  
>She really wasn't heavy.<br>He gently placed her in her bed and pulled the covers over her.  
>He didn't need a bed really; He always slept on the ground in his cave.<p>

He lay down on the quilts on the floor and tried to get some sleep.

End of chapter 2

*I just thought I'd explain this in case people didn't understand obviously anyone who has watched Naruto knows that the characters are Japanese and speak Japanese so instead of Sakura saying "Do you know how to speak English" I write "Do you know how to speak Japanese" despite this being written in English. Sorry for any confusion XD

Next chapter will be up soon!

P.s don't worry I won't be calling Naruto 'foxed ear boy' or just 'the boy' for much longer XD 


	3. Fishcake

Sakura woke up to the light shining in her eyes from her window.  
>She sat up slowly and put her hand up to cover the sun from her eyes.<br>She then realized she was in her bed and the fox eared boy (she wasn't sure what to call him yet) was on the floor.

"OH!" She said loudly  
>this woke up the boy with a jump.<p>

"I'm sorry, I must have moved during the night" She said crouching down to his level.

"No, I move you" He said with a big smile.

"Oh..." she said bashfully.

"Thank you" she said with a slight blush.  
>She quickly got up and walked over to her fridge and opened it.<br>She frowned at the lack of food in there.

"Are you hungry? We can get something to eat and then you can…ehm… go back to your home" Sakura said with a hint of sadness.

"Y-yes" He said avoid eye-contact with Sakura.  
>Truth be told he didn't really want to go back either.<br>This is the first real relationship he'd had with anyone.

-  
>Later Sakura and Naruto were walking down the street of konoha village.<p>

"There's a really nice dumpling place we could go to over there!" Sakura pointed.

"Sakura?" A female voice exclaimed.

Sakura looked around and saw that it was her friends Ino and Shikamaru.

"Hey Guys" She said as she walked over to them,  
>the fox-eared boy followed.<p>

"I was so worried! No one had seen you at all yesterday! Are you alright?" Ino said looking worried.

"Ino you're too kind, I'm fine" Sakura laughed  
>Ino smiled and looked over at the boy standing next to Sakura.<br>Signalling to Sakura to introduce them.  
>Sakura picked up on this.<p>

"Oh! Ino, Shikamaru this is...Naruto" She said with a slight pause and then a smile.  
>'Naruto' was a little confused by this new name.<p>

"Hello" He said politely.  
>"Hiya" Ino said as she smiled cheekily at Sakura.<br>Sakura then pulled a face back at Ino.  
>"Hey" Shikamaru said causally.<p>

"Naruto...that's a unique name, where are you from?" Ino asked.

"INO isn't there somewhere you're met to be?" Sakura hinted.

"No" Ino stated.

"I have to go to Tsunade to get a mission, I'll leave you with Sakura" Shikamaru said as he kissed Ino, said goodbye to Sakura and Naruto and left.

Naruto found this gesture strange and rather fascinating.

"Well Ino we have to go, Catch up later"  
>Sakura said pulling Naruto away.<p>

"Ok, Ok" Ino said stopping Sakura from running away.

"I can tell when I'm not wanted" Ino said giggling  
>she turned to walk away and stopped beside Sakura.<p>

"He's cute" she whispered with a wink.

"INO" Sakura shouted after her, but she was already gone.

Then Sakura remembered something and giggled which made Naruto curious.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto; that was the first word that popped into my head" She said laughing.  
>Naruto tilted his head.<br>Which Sakura thought was adorable.

"Do you know what Naruto means?" She asked.  
>He shook his head.<p>

"It's a type of Fishcake" she laughed.  
>Naruto laughed as well although he still didn't understand.<p>

"I'm sorry, we'll find you a better name" She said wiping a tear from her eye from laughing so hard.

"No, I like it" Naruto said with a warm smile.  
>Sakura smiled back.<p>

"C'mon I bet you're hungry" Sakura said walking ahead

"Sakura?"

"Yes Naruto?" Sakura said turning around to face him.

"What did those Ino and Shikamaru do?" He asked pretty badly worded.

"What do you mean?" Sakura questioned.

"When they left they put their lips together, why?"

"Oh that", that's called a kiss along with holding hands and hugging it's something people do when they love each other" Sakura said smiling.

"Love each other?" Naruto said under his breath as he looked longingly at Sakura.

"C'mon!" Sakura said turning around to walk again.  
>Naruto reached his hand out to Sakura's hand in an attempt to hold it but withdrew it again.<p>

While Naruto was doing this a raven haired boy walked close to Sakura.

"H-hi Sasuke-kun" Sakura said slightly swooning.  
>Naruto recognized this. He didn't like it.<p>

Sasuke glanced at Sakura and bashed off her while he walked past.  
>Naruto <em>really <em>didn't like that.  
>He saw Sakura's expression, she was upset.<br>He didn't know was it because the raven haired boy ignored her or pushed her.  
>Either way it made him mad.<p>

"HEY!" Naruto let escape his mouth without thinking.  
>Sasuke stopped.<p>

"Watch. It." Was all Naruto managed to say  
>Sasuke turned around in his direction but did not say anything.<p>

"You hurt her" He said pointing at Sakura.  
>She looked back at Naruto.<p>

"Calm down Kid" Sasuke said.  
>This made Naruto angrier.<br>He tried to go up to Sasuke and punch him but was held back by a soft feminine hand on his chest.  
>He looked at her.<p>

"It's ok" She said softly.  
>Her eyes calmed him. All his anger melted away.<p>

The raven haired boy scoffed and walked onwards.  
>Sakura smiled sincerely at Naruto.<p>

"Thank you" She said, her eyes seeming so grateful.  
>They continued heading towards a good place to eat.<p>

Naruto focused on this new feeling he had.  
>It was weird and annoying.<br>The way Sakura said his name...did she like him?

_"I am sick?"_ Naruto thought to himself, after all this feeling was completely new to him.

Eventually they found themselves at Sakura's favourite dumpling store. They sat outside on the bench with their dumplings.

Sakura happily ate her dumpling but something was bothering Naruto.  
>He had to ask.<p>

"What is love?" Naruto randomly said.  
>Sakura chocked a bit.<p>

"It's hard to explain" Sakura said slowly.

"Explain?" He questioned.

"_Oh boy_" Sakura thought.

"Explaining something is telling someone what it means, you know how I explained what a kiss was to you?"  
>Naruto clicked.<p>

"Yes" he answered happily.

"Ok so love is..." Sakura started.  
>Naruto stared at her with a smirk.<p>

"Love is..." she continued.  
>Naruto was still staring.<p>

"Y'know I'm not really sure..." Sakura said.  
>Naruto frowned childishly.<p>

"Love is wanting to be with someone all the time and missing them when your apart" Sakura started again.  
>Naruto looked at her.<p>

"Love is expressing how much you need someone, threw words and actions..." Sakura continued with a warm smile developing on her face.

"Saying the name?" Naruto asked with a hint of jealously seeping through his tone.  
>Sakura thought for a second.<p>

"Yeah I guess you can tell someone's feelings by how they say there name" She answered.  
>Naruto leaned his head on his hands and pouted.<p>

"Do you love?" Naruto asked her.

"**Well do you?" **Inner Sakura asked herself.  
>Sakura was silent for a bit.<br>This was a hard question for her.  
>Naruto recognized the silence.<p>

"You love that Sasuke?" He asked.

"Do you love Sasuke" Sakura corrected. She couldn't help it.

"No I don't" She said confidently.  
>Naruto tried to hold back his smile.<p>

"He clearly isn't the person I thought he was" She smiled.

"I really should have noticed it sooner I guess I just needed a little help" She said smiling at Naruto.

"Hm?" Naruto wondered.

"That's you" She said with a playful smile.  
>Naruto smiled back.<p>

-  
>Later Sakura and Naruto were still sitting outside the dumpling store.<br>Sakura was sitting on the bench.  
>Naruto was sitting on the ground with his back leaning against the bench.<p>

"Naruto, we haven't really talked about how we met" Sakura said looking out into the night sky.  
>Naruto leaned his head back to her.<p>

"I know I don't know you that well but, there are so many questions I want to ask about you and the Kyuubi" She said cautiously as to not hurt his feelings.

"Ask" he stated with a smile.

"Why is it that you are human now but we're a demon when I first met you?" She wondered.

"Kyuubi takes over when I am scared, sad, angry" He explained his best.  
>Sakura looked sad.<br>"_He must be sick of people attacking him_" She thought.

"What is it like when that happens?" She asked with a concerned tone.

"It's hard to go back"  
>Sakura knew he meant that it was hard to change back to his human-like forum.<br>Sakura went silent.

"Is your ear better today?" She asked as she took off the bandages.  
>Naruto nodded.<p>

"Are your ears sensitive?" she asked feeling guilty.  
>Naruto cocked his head.<br>He obviously didn't understand the question.

"Is it a weakness of yours?" She said as she got off the bench and kneeling next to him stroking his sore ear.

"Yes" He answered.

Sakura's hand began to glow green.  
>Naruto was amazed.<br>The whole in his ear started to close up the pain faded.

"T-thank you" Naruto said with a blush.  
>Sakura smiled and sat down next to him.<p>

_"I feel so comfortable with Him..." _Sakura thought. 

...

.

"OH SHIT!" Sakura shouted suddenly while jumping to her feat causing Naruto to block his ears.

"Sorry Naruto, I forgot about your ears" Sakura said lightly touching his sensitive ear.

"We were meant to take you back to your cave I'm so sorry" Sakura said bowing

_"__**You did that on purpose, you don't even want him to go home"  
><strong>_Inner Sakura pointed out.

_"DID NOT. Time escaped me..."  
><em>Sakura retorted.

Naruto smiled.

_"I do not want to leave Sakura"_ Naruto thought to himself.

"It's too late now..." Sakura said looking up at the night sky.

"Maybe...you could stay again tonight and we can take you back tomorrow...?" She said blushing and looking away from Naruto.

"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed happily.  
>Sakura motioned for Naruto to follow her and they started to head home<p>

-  
>Sakura walked in the door of her apartment and turned on the light.<br>She yawned and turned to Naruto.

"Its late do you want to sleep?" Sakura asked Naruto.  
>He nodded in reply.<br>Sakura pulled out the quilts to lie on.

"Tonight," Sakura began as she spun around to face Naruto.

"**I **will be sleeping on the floor. Ok?" She said sternly but still joking.

"Ok" Naruto said understanding what she meant.  
>Sakura smiled.<p>

"Do you want Pyjama's?" She asked curiously.  
>Naruto made a strange face.<br>He had never heard of such a thing.

"Oh sorry, it's like cloths but you wear them when you sleep" She smiled.

"No, Thank you" Naruto replied.

"Wow Naruto you said that really well" She smiled as she took out her pyjama's.  
>Naruto smiled at hearing that his speech was improving.<p>

"I'll be right back" Sakura said as she walked into her bathroom.  
>She closed the door strongly. So strongly it opened up again, just a little.<p>

Naruto couldn't help his wandering eyes.  
>He looked as Sakura removed her red top and Pink Skirt.<br>Naruto looked closer to the crack in the door.  
>She had a perfectly trim body.<br>She was gorgeous.  
>She slipped her light pink night dress on and Naruto quickly turned away.<br>She opened up the door, walked out and smiled.  
>Naruto looked at her and smiled back.<p>

"Goodnight" Sakura said to Naruto as she settled into the quilts. 

"Goodnight" Naruto copied in reply.

But neither of them had a particularly good night.  
>This was the second night in a row Sakura was kept up by thoughts of Naruto.<p>

"_I'm just going to admit this to myself, I don't really want him to leave" _Sakura finally confessed to herself.

_**"I knew that already" **_Inner Sakura said snidely.

"_Shut up_!" Sakura commented back to herself.

Sakura found it extremely hard to sleep tonight, so she got up and got a glass of water.  
>She drank it and headed back over to her bed.<br>She stopped and looked down at Naruto.  
>He had his eyes clenched Shut and his ears were twitching.<p>

_"He must be dreaming" _She thought.  
>She gently sat next to him and stroked his ear to calm him.<br>It worked.

His ears lifted back up.

"_So cute_" She thought looking at his ears.  
>She then sighed remembering how she couldn't sleep and began to try again.<p>

Once Sakura was lying down, Naruto opened his eyes and turned around to face her.  
>She had her back facing him.<br>He reached his hand out to her, hoping she would hold it like she told him people in love do.

She moved onto her back, her eyes closed and sighed, she was asleep.  
>Naruto moved her Pink bangs out of her face.<br>Then he moved his arm back under the blanket on her bed and tried to sleep again.

End of 3rd Chapter!

I know it's a bad ending for this chapter ^^'  
>I'm working on the 4th one already so it shouldn't be much longer than this one stay tuned XD<p>

**P.S the reason I don't have Naruto thinking to himself allot is because he's not meant to be good at speaking so I doubt he'd think thinks in Japanese to himself if he can't say it out loud XD** 


	4. Please Don't Leave Me

It was the next morning again.  
>A morning Sakura dreaded.<br>Sakura sat up to find Naruto was already awake sitting in her bed. Weirdly he didn't look happy.

"_I thought he'd be happy to go home" _Sakura thought.

"_Maybe he's pretending to be sad so he doesn't upset me!"_

_"I should be happy so he doesn't feel like he has to be sad" _Sakura discussed with herself.

"Are you ready to go home?" She said with the fakest smile she had ever put on.  
>He turned to her and nodded his head to say yes but his eyes seemed to be saying no. <p>

They walked out of her apartment and Sakura locked her door and they headed on their way.

The walk from Sakura's apartment to the hills where Naruto lives was painful to say the least.  
>Two of them were silent.<br>Neither of them break the silence to speak to one another.

They finally got to their destination.  
>Sakura really didn't want to ever reach the cave.<br>Neither did Naruto.

They reached the entrance of the cave and Sakura stopped.

"H-Here you go" Sakura said avoiding eye contact with Naruto.  
>He lowered his head to look at her.<br>She lifted her head up and looked back at him.

"Goodbye Naruto" Sakura said sadly.  
>He stared at her with those eyes.<br>Eyes that looked like an abandoned puppy.  
>His eyes were sad; his fox ears were flopped down.<br>Suddenly she leaned over and hugged him tightly.  
>This was the first proper contact she had ever had with him but it just felt right.<br>Of course when Sakura realized what she was doing she quickly pulled away.  
>She walked away before she had time to think about it more and decide to live with him or something crazy like that.<p>

But something stopped her.  
>She felt a tug on her arm.<p>

"Please don't leave me" Naruto strung those words together while tugging on her arm.  
>Sakura turned around with tears gathering in her eyes.<p>

"Don't." Naruto repeated now that he had eye contact with Sakura.

"What do you want me to do Naruto, You're not like me" Sakura said with her voice cracking.

"I won't hurt you" Naruto said believing she was still afraid of him.  
>After those words a tear broke free from Sakura's eyes and streamed down her face.<p>

"Naruto you're making this really hard for me"

"Something I did?" He asked.

"Naruto we're from totally different words" Sakura said although inside she desperately wanted to just take Naruto, hug him and never let him go.  
>Naruto had nothing to say, either he didn't know how to say anything or because he was made speechless.<p>

"_It can't be possible that I love him?" _Sakura thought to herself.

"**It's too soon you don't even know each other"** Inner Sakura said.

"_Then why is this so hard?" _she asked herself.

"Stay with me" Naruto stated bluntly with sadness ripe in his voice.

"I can't, I have friends and family they'd all be heartbroken" She said truthfully.

"You are the closest I have been to Humans" Naruto worded together, pretty well actually.  
>Sakura put her hand over her mouth and started to cry harder. Those words really got to her.<p>

"I'm sorry I can't" Sakura said as she pulled her hand away from him.  
>Then Naruto remembered something.<p>

~~~  
><em>"Oh that, that's called a kiss along with holding hands and hugging it's something people do when they love each other"<br>_~~~

those words stuck in Naruto's head.  
>So like anyone he decided to act on them.<br>He reached his hand out and grabbed Sakura's shoulder, turning her around then He kissed her.

Sakura was shocked by this. Really shocked.  
>Yet, she liked it.<p>

Then they broke apart.  
>Sakura stared at Naruto.<p>

"It's called a kiss; it's something you do when you love someone" Naruto quoted Sakura.

Sakura's eyes began to fill up with tears again but this time they were tears of happiness.  
>She grabbed Naruto and embraced him tightly and started sobbing.<br>Naruto put his hand on her head.

"Live with me" Sakura said when she eventually controlled herself.  
>Naruto stared at her for a second.<p>

"In your cave?" Naruto asked dimly.

"No" Sakura laughed.

"Where I live is called an apartment" She explained to Naruto.

"Anyway you could live with me in Konoah, I know you don't know much about humans but I can teach you!" Sakura said happily.

Sakura knew this was a pretty hasty thought but she couldn't be without Naruto.

"Okay!" Naruto said happily.  
>This caused more tears from Sakura.<p>

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Why what?" Sakura asked back.

"Your eyes...water?" Naruto said as he didn't understand why she was crying but also didn't know the _word_ crying.

"Oh, I'm crying" Sakura said while sniffling.

"Why? You are sad?" He wondered.

"No not at all, yes you cry when you're sad but you also cry when you're happy" Sakura said with a tearful smile.

"Happy crying?" Naruto questioned.  
>Sakura giggled.<p>

"I guess we should go back to my- our apartment now" Sakura beamed.  
>Naruto looked at her.<p>

"Well where else are you going to live!" She stated happily.  
>She took Naruto's hand and they walked back to konoha together.<p>

-

They got back to konoha village in a completely opposite state then when they left.  
>They we're giddy with happiness.<p>

"Sakura~" A voice said to her.  
>Sakura turned around.<p>

"Introduce me" A brunette girl said in presumptuous tone.  
>Sakura looked down and realized her and Naruto were holding hands.<br>She quickly let go off his hand.

"Tenten, how are you?" She replied.

"Just heading out to run a little errand" Tenten explained.

"Oh ok then I better not keep you" Sakura said secretly hoping to leave without a probing from Tenten about what boy she's with.

"Oh also Tsunade-Sama was looking for you" Tenten said as she turned to walk off.

"Goodbye Sakura and Sakura's friend" She waved.  
>Sakura waved back.<br>Then she sighed.

"Here" Sakura said as she handed Naruto her key's to her apartment.

"You can open the door right?" Sakura said with a smile. 

"Yes!" Naruto said, even though he wasn't entirely sure. 

"I have to see why Tsunade wants me to see her"  
>Naruto nodded.<p>

"I won't be long" She kissed him on the cheek and headed towards Tsunade's office.

Naruto smiled and watched her as she walked off.

-  
>Naruto was stood facing Sakura's apartment door.<br>He took out the key and tried to figure out where to put it.  
>He got a flashback of Sakura locking her door this morning.<br>So he put it in the lock and moved it about until her heard a click.

He opened the door, walked in and closed it behind him.

"_What now...?" _Naruto thought as he sat on her bed.

-  
>Allot of time had passed, Sakura was wrong when she said she wouldn't be long.<br>But Naruto waited,  
>and waited,<br>and waited.

He wondered was Sakura ever coming back.  
>Then he heard a knock on the door.<p>

"Naruto?" a voice called in.  
>"Sakura!" Naruto beamed.<p>

"Can you open the door?" She asked.  
>Naruto unlocked the door.<br>It revealed Sakura looking extremely run-down and tired.

"I'm so sorry I took so long there was a couple of things Tsunade had me do" She said as rubbed her tired eyes.

"Are you ok?" He asked compassionately.  
>Sakura just smiled at Naruto.<br>Naruto pulled Sakura over to her bed and sat her down on it.

"I'm sorry you had to stay home here alone" she yawned.  
>Naruto didn't answer he just watched how tired she was.<br>Naruto sat on the ground and decided he should sleep also.

"Naruto" She called sounding drowsy.  
>He sat up and looked at her.<br>"You don't have to sleep on the floor" she said her eyes barely open.

Naruto tilted his head.  
>Sakura patted her bed, telling him he can sleep in it too.<br>Naruto smiled warmly and got into Sakura's bed.  
>By the Time Naruto was in and under the cover's Sakura was already fast asleep.<p>

Naruto wrapped his arms around her and cuddled her.  
>Despite being asleep Sakura clung onto Naruto.<br>Naruto tried to fight falling asleep, Sakura was so tranquil when she slept, but before he knew it he too had fallen asleep too.

-  
>The next morning Sakura was up fully refreshed making breakfast when Naruto woke up.<p>

Sakura could here Naruto moving and turned around.

"Oh, Good Morning!" She said happily.

"Good Morning?" Naruto questioned.

"Yes, it's what you say to someone in the morning" Sakura said handing Naruto a bowl of waffles.

Naruto looked at them and back at Sakura.

"Eat them, There yours" She giggled.  
>Naruto didn't hesitate to shove the waffles in his mouth.<p>

"Naruto, I have to go to Tsunade's office again today" Sakura said.  
>Naruto's face dropped.<p>

"I'm sorry, if it were up to me I wouldn't go but it's kind of my job" Sakura said bending down to Naruto.

"I miss you" He said.  
>Sakura found this shocking because she had never said those words and doubted Naruto had ever learned them either.<p>

Sakura kissed his forehead.  
>"I'll be back as soon as I can" Sakura said giving him a compassionate look.<br>Naruto frowned.

Sakura got her keys, walk out the door and locked it.  
>She stopped on the outside of her door and leaned on it.<p>

"_I'm sorry Naruto" _Sakura thought in her head.  
>She sighed and headed to the Hokage's Residence.<p>

Naruto waited in Sakura's apartment for hours.  
>He really didn't have anything else to do but wait for her to get back.<br>He opened the window and looked out for most of his day.  
>Watching to see if he could see Sakura on her way home.<br>It was torture.  
>He missed Sakura like crazy and the extreme boredom really didn't help.<p>

Naruto was waiting so long he fell asleep with his head resting on the window.  
>Sakura slotted her key into the keyhole to open the door.<br>The click of the door woke Naruto instantly.  
>He was so happy Sakura was back.<p>

"Naruto?" She called out as the room was pitch black.

"Sakura!" He called back as he hugged her.  
>Sakura was a little startled as she couldn't see.<br>His hug was so tight and warm.  
>Sakura put her arms around him.<p>

"I'm Sorry I was gone so long today" Sakura said warmly.  
>Naruto only reply was tightening his grip.<p>

"_This really isn't fair on Naruto, leaving him home just waiting for me all day" _Sakura thought sadly.

Once Naruto let go Sakura turned on the light and sat Naruto down.

"Naruto I have an idea!" She spoke to him.  
>Naruto listen attentively.<p>

"What if you could come on missions with me, you know like becoming a Ninja" Sakura said hopefully.

"Y-yes!" Naruto said, the happiest he's ever sounded.

Sakura smiled widely and leaned over and kissed Naruto.  
>This kiss was more passionate then their last.<br>Naruto didn't know these feelings very well but he knew his feelings for Sakura were strong.  
>He leaned further into the kiss.<br>They finally broke apart.

Then a thought came into Sakura's mind.

~~~  
><em>"It's called a kiss; it's something you do when you love someone"<em>

_~~~  
><em>Sakura recalled when Naruto quoted this to her after he kissed her.

"_Does that mean he loves me?" _She examined in her mind.

**"Do you love him?" **Inner Sakura had a blunt input into Sakura's thoughts.

Sakura looked over at Naruto sitting directly in front of her with that_ irresistible _smile of his on his face.  
>She then listened to her heart, it was beating so fast.<p>

_"Y-yes I think I do..."_ Sakura finally admitted.

Then a problem occurred in Sakura's mind.  
>A problem with her 'plan'.<p>

"Tsunade" Sakura spat out.  
>Naruto looked confused.<p>

"What does it mean?" Naruto asked assuming it was a word.

"Tsunade, she's the Hokage of this village A.K.A the main problem with my plan" Sakura said with a strained look on her face.

"Ah" Naruto said as a sound of understanding.  
>Sakura grabbed Naruto's hand and dragged him up off the floor.<p>

"Wah!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Come on!" Sakura giggled.

-  
>Sakura got to the door of Tsunade's office and knocked on it.<p>

"Come in" Tsunade called out.  
>Sakura peeked around the door.<p>

"Ah Sakura, Did you need something?" Tsunade said to her favourite student.

"Well...kind of" Sakura grinned sheepishly.  
>She opened the door fully and walked in.<br>Letting Tsunade's gaze rest on Naruto.

"_Hmm there's something not right about him, the aura in the room has changed somehow..." _Tsunade thought to herself.

"Umm he wants to be a ninja and go on missions like me!" Sakura said delicately.

"What?" Tsunade replied semi-shouting.  
>Sakura flinched.<p>

"Sakura, it's not that easy to just 'become' a ninja, you of all people would know this"

"I know but he's good at fighting better than most ninja, right Naruto?"  
>Naruto nodded.<p>

"Awfully quiet isn't he?" Tsunade said trying to get information on Naruto.

"He doesn't speak very good Japanese" Sakura answered.

"Ok...we'll see how good he is"  
>Sakura smiled hopefully.<br>Naruto smiled also.

"He can sparre with me"  
>Sakura's smiled faded quickly.<br>Naruto noticed this and began to worry slightly.

"T-Tsunade-sama isn't that allot for his first time?" Sakura panicked.  
>Tsunade didn't answer Sakura's question, she approached Naruto and looked up at him.<br>He was only slightly taller than Tsunade.

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you" She joked dryly and walked on gesturing for Naruto and Sakura to follow.

-  
>They made their way out to a large training field, the field Tsunade initially trained Sakura on.<br>Tsunade removed her long jacket and hat.  
>"Now, come at me as if you intend to kill me" Tsunade said.<p>

Sakura threw un-reassuring look at Naruto.  
>Naruto gulped and looked back at Tsunade.<br>Nearly as soon as he made eye contact she was already charging for him.

"WAH!" Naruto shouted and back flipped out of her way  
>Tsunade followed punching the ground in her path Naruto continued to avoid her.<p>

"You can't keep avoiding me boy" She called out confidently.

Naruto jumped high in the air, really high.  
>Sakura and Tsunade both looked up to the sky at him.<br>He came crashing back down to the position Tsunade was standing on.  
>Tsunade had already jumped back seconds before he landed but it was a devastating attack none the less.<br>Although he still managed to land gracefully on his feet.  
>Sakura had to resist the urge to swoon.<p>

Tsunade threw a swift kick at Naruto that blind-sided him.  
>BANG.<br>Right on target.  
>Naruto flew far back into a rock on the training field.<p>

Sakura opened her mouth to make a sound but stopped.  
>She didn't want to distract Naruto any further.<br>Naruto dazed from the heavy kick he got, recovered quickly and jumped to his feet.

_"Hmm quick recovery..."_ Tsunade noticed.

Suddenly Naruto hand began to glow and a blue orb started to form in the palm of his hand.  
>Both Tsunade and Sakura were astonished.<p>

"Rasengan!" Naruto called out.  
>He zoomed right up to Tsunade and hit her full-force.<br>Luckily Tsunade used a substitution jutsu seconds beforehand.

"_He had full intent to kill me" _Tsunade examined._  
><em>  
>She appeared behind Naruto and flicked his head; even the force of just her finger sent him flying back onto the ground.<br>She did not hesitate to throw another attack at him.  
>She jumped high into the air; put all her power into her fist and shooted back down again with full force.<br>Sakura noticed the glow around Tsunade's fist.

"Holy Shit" She exclaimed.  
>She looked over at Naruto who was still dazed from the second smash of the ground he had taken.<p>

Sakura clenched her eyes shut.  
>CRASH.<br>"NARUTO!" She shouted.  
>Sakura ran over but there was a thick cloud of dust.<p>

The dust around them began to clear.  
>When it fully cleared Sakura was confused at what she saw<br>Naruto was lying on the ground, his eyes clenched shut and arms crossed over his face in a defensive action.  
>Tsunade's fist was inches away from his face.<p>

Naruto slowly opened both eyes.  
>Tsunade stood up and smirked.<br>Sakura blinked her eyes in dismay.

"You have potential, Naruto" Tsunade said.  
>Naruto smiled a crooked smile.<br>Sakura let out a squeal of happiness and hugged Naruto tightly.

Tsunade gestured for Sakura to follow her so Sakura got up and ran up to her.  
>She leaned closer to Tsunade.<p>

"Sakura, do you trust him?"

"Y-yes of course" Sakura said taken off guard by the question.

"There is a strange presence from him"  
>Sakura knew she meant the demon fox.<p>

"Where did you meet him?" Tsunade asked.  
>Sakura never thought of what she'd tell people in this situation.<p>

"When I left the village for the night, he talk me into coming back without doing something hasty, like taking on the demon fox myself" Sakura lied threw her teeth.

Tsunade nodded in approval and continued back to her office.  
>"Enjoy training him Sakura" She called back to her.<br>Sakura smiled back at Tsunade.  
>She turned back to Naruto and beamed.<p>

-  
>END OF CHAPTER 4<p>

Oooh will Sakura get caught up in her lies? :o read the next chapter to find out x3 (I'm working on it already :D) 


	5. Love, In a Hopeless Place

It had been a month after Tsunade gave Sakura permission to train Naruto to be a ninja, Naruto was training extremely hard and it didn't seem to hurt that they both seemed to be enjoying the extra time they got to spend together.

Naruto and Sakura fell down to the ground with exhaustion.  
>"Naruto you're really good! You should have become a ninja sooner!" Sakura joked between breaths.<p>

"I'm glad" Naruto replied,

"_his speech had been improving quiet allot too"_ Sakura thought to herself.

"You might be ready for a mission now" Sakura said with a wink.

"Mission in what?" He worded badly.  
>Sakura giggled.<p>

"_Well I never said it was perfect" _She continued to herself.

"Well we'll see!" Sakura said standing up.  
>Naruto stood up and followed.<p>

-  
>Sakura and Naruto found themselves at Tsunade's office.<br>Sakura approached Tsunade.

"Tsunade-Sama, would you happen to have any missions for us?"  
>Tsunade lifted her head from her paper work to look at Sakura.<p>

"Ah Sakura, as a matter of fact I have a very important mission for two shinobi" Tsunade replied handing Sakura a document.

"This man will be waiting in woods tonight for a shinobi, he expects this shinobi to carry out tasks for him, whatever he wants is that clear?"  
>Sakura made a strange face.<p>

"And this is an important mission?" Sakura questioned.

"Yes he is a very rich and powerful man, the leaf village is on very good terms with him, its best to keep it that way, He specifically asked for a female companion so stay polite." Tsunade hinted.

"Why is this a two man mission?" Sakura asked.

"There is a man on the other page who has been tailing our client, Sakura turned over the page on the document.  
>It is Naruto's job to stop this man from harming our client"<br>Naruto nodded his head.

"Think you can do it?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes Ma'am" Sakura replied sharply.

"Good, take this" Tsunade threw a black hidden leaf forehead protector to Naruto.

"Best to represent the village you're coming from" Tsunade said with her focus back on the document she was reading.

Sakura and Naruto walked out of her office.  
>Naruto stared at the headband in his hand.<p>

"What's it?" Naruto asked.

"What is it" Sakura corrected.

"It's a forehead protector, all hidden leaf shinobi have it" Sakura said pointing at her own.

"I'll put it on for you" Sakura said tying it behind Naruto's head.

"Done!" Sakura smiled up at Naruto.

"Then we go?" Naruto asked.

"Yup" Sakura said with a smile.  
>And with that that Sakura and Naruto headed to the forest to exit the hidden leaf village.<p>

It was 6:00pm exactly the time Tsunade said the man would meet Sakura and Naruto at.

Suddenly a man emerged from the trees.  
>He was tall, taller than Naruto and in his late 30's.<br>Sakura and Naruto turned slightly to see their clients face.

"Konichiwa" They both said respectfully.  
>The man looked over at Sakura completely bypassing Naruto.<p>

"Konichiwa young maiden, are you my shinobi for the next few days?"

"Yes, I am Sakura pleased to meet you" Sakura said with a smile while holding out her hand, trying to stay professional.

The man leaded down and kissed her hand.

"What a beautiful woman you are" he said looking up at her.  
>Naruto could feel the anger inside him.<p>

"S-sir I'm 16, I'm not a woman yet" Sakura said awkwardly.  
>The man noticed the look on Naruto's face.<p>

"Is this the tracker ninja?" He said looking at Naruto with a less-than-friendly face.

"Yes" Naruto answered.

"Well, get to it" The man stated in a derogatory tone.  
>Naruto gritted his teeth and jumped off into the trees.<p>

"Your boyfriend?" he asked Sakura.

"...Yes" Sakura answered.  
>It was strange; Sakura never called him that before.<p>

"You hesitated" He stated to her.  
><em><br>"__**I don't like him"**_Inner Sakura said.

"_Shut up, It's my mission to do whatever he asks and stay polite"_

on the other hand Naruto found the man who had be tailing their client with ease, now all he had to do is lay low and wait.

-

"So what is the first thing on the agenda?" Sakura said politely.

"Well..."  
>Suddenly the man grabbed Sakura's wrist.<br>Sakura gasped.

"There was something I wanted to do" the main said with a smirk.

"That's not very funny sir" Sakura said delicately as she attempted to pull her arm away.

"Who said I was joking?" the main said as he tightened his grip on Sakura's wrist.

"W-what are you doing?" She asked, already half knowing the answer.  
>The man didn't answer but smirked as he roughly pushed Sakura to the ground and leaned over her.<br>Sakura looked at him with fearful eyes.

"W-why—" Sakura stopped mid-sentence when she remembered something Tsunade said to her.

_"He specifically asked for a female companion so stay polite."  
><em>Tsunade's words echoed in her mind.

"_He did this on purpose" _

"Please Sir, Let go of me" Sakura said trying to stay calm.

"Are you afraid?" He said, clearly hearing the fear in her voice.  
>She attempted to get up and he pushed her down again, with more force than last time.<p>

The man let out an evil giggle.  
>Tears began to gather in Sakura's eyes.<p>

"_What do I do?" _Sakura thought.

"_What CAN I do?" _She thought more appropriately.

The man began t un-zip her red top, Sakura struggled underneath the man while the tears streamed down her face.

"S-stop!" Sakura said quietly.  
>"Don't worry it'll be over before you know it" the man replied.<br>He took out a small blunt blade and cut the side of Sakura's Skirt revealing just her black shorts underneath.

Sakura's silent tears began built into a loud crying.  
>The man covered her mouth to stop the sound.<p>

"Shut up!" He said angrily.  
>This scared Sakura, what would he do if she made him angry?<br>She tried her best to keep herself under control.  
>But how could she?<br>Sakura clenched her eyes closed.

"SAKURA!" a voice called out.  
>Sakura's eyes shot open as she looked in the direction of the voice.<br>It was Naruto.

"Naruto" Sakura called out in a voice of pure happiness.  
>She had never been happier to see him.<br>Although there was something different about him.  
>He looked angry.<p>

"What are you doing?" Naruto stated forcefully.

The man stood up and pulled Sakura up by her wrist with him, still with the smirk on his face.  
>Naruto began to glow red.<p>

"Let. Her. go" Naruto said his anger rising.  
>The man just laughed.<p>

"Alright you caught me but she was asking for it, kid" The man said.

"Enough!" Naruto shouted.  
>The man saw the rage in his eyes and dropped Sakura.<br>This pushed Naruto over the edge.

Naruto charged for the man and tackled him.  
>Unbeknownst to Naruto or Sakura the man was quiet capable of fighting, but still was nothing compared to Naruto.<p>

Sakura looked in horror as Naruto fought the man, she noticed that his aura was red, his features were ridged and he had two red tails of chakra.

The man attempted to fight back but failed miserably. The man scampered a little distance from Naruto and set off a distress call.

Sakura noticed the sort of distress call that it was, it wasn't one to his home village but to the hidden leaf village.

"Oh no" Sakura mumbled to herself.

Naruto continued to attack the main in a fit of rage.  
>Naruto knocked him to the ground and roared.<br>The man was frozen with fear.

"Naruto" Sakura cried out in an attempt to stop him.

They landed.  
>It was the Anbu.<br>Right on queue  
>and just in time to see the scene in front of them.<p>

Naruto standing over the hidden leaf village's client blind with rage, the client; frozen with fear.

One of the members of the Anbu pulled out an electric weapon and jabbed Naruto with it which sent a painful electric shock charging threw his body.  
>Sakura was horrified.<p>

"STOP IT!" Sakura shouted out emotionally with tears running from her eyes.  
>Naruto screamed in pain as he changed from an aura of the demon fox to how he normally appears.<br>After the electrocution stopped Naruto collapsed onto the ground.  
>Sakura ran to him but before she could reach she was stopped by a member of the Anbu.<p>

She felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck and she fell,  
>being caught before she hit the ground by a masked Anbu member she slowly fell asleep.<p>

-  
>When she woke she was at the hospital, they were examining her arms to see if she had sprained them from being held down so hard.<p>

She was panicked; Naruto was no-wear in sight.

"Where's Naruto" She asked the nurses.

"Please stay calm, Sakura-San" The nurse spoke; she was familiar with Sakura because of her medical training.  
>Sakura got up out of here bed.<p>

"Where is he?" She asked more sternly.

"W-well he's with Tsunade but we really aren't done doing tests on you" The nurse spoke.

Sakura ran out of the hospital,

"S-Sakura-san we haven't done a mental exam" the nurse shouted after her.

"I'm fine!" Sakura replied. Even though she really wasn't sure if she was, she just wanted to get to Naruto before something bad happened.

-  
>Sakura burst in the door of Tsunade's office without asking permission, which was very unlike her.<p>

Everyone looked in her direction.  
>There was most of the Anbu, Tsunade and of course Naruto in the room.<br>Tsunade looked mad. Really Mad.  
>Naruto looked overwhelmed and scared.<br>There was a strained silence.

"Sakura." Was the only thing Tsunade said.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted something, but I really needed to talk to you Tsunade-Sama" Sakura said timidly.

"Well Sakura I needed to talk to you also" Tsunade replied. She didn't sound happy.

"But I would prefer if I could talk to Naruto on his own first" Tsunade said.  
>Sakura glanced around at the Anbu, Tsunade and a quick look at Naruto.<p>

"No." Sakura said bluntly.  
>Tsunade wasn't surprised.<p>

"With all due respect I don't like the idea of leaving Naruto alone in here, especially since he still doesn't understand Japanese that well" Sakura said, making a valid point.  
>Tsunade nodded and looked towards Naruto.<p>

"What you have done has brought irreparable damage to the reputation of the hidden leaf village, you attack one of the most powerful and wealthy members of the hidden mist village." Tsunade said.

"Tsunade-Sama he was protecting me!" Sakura blurted out.  
>She didn't mean to but it was too late to take it back now.<p>

Tsunade moved her attention to Sakura.

"_Here it goes" _Sakura gulped.

"Sakura, you were the leader of this mission, letting Naruto get that out of hand on one of our clients means YOU failed the mission and this fail rests on your shoulders" 

Sakura stood listening to these accusations.

"You have the responsibility of the damage you have brought upon the hidden leaf village" Tsunade continued.

"Please Stop" was all Naruto managed to say in Sakura's defence.

"Escort him out" Tsunade said.  
>Two Anbu members grabbed Naruto's arms and lifted him up.<p>

"No, please don't" Sakura said as she ran over.  
>The Anbu looked over at Tsunade, she nodded her head and they put him down. Sakura put one hand up to Naruto's face and rested it on his cheek and rested the other on his chest.<p>

"Can you go outside?" She asked him sweetly  
>Naruto stared at her with worrying eyes.<p>

"I'll be fine, just wait back home ok?" Sakura said with a fake smile.  
>Naruto took her words and walked outside Tsunade's office.<p>

Tsunade stood up out of her seat and paced.  
>Sakura watched Waiting for what she was going to say.<p>

"Sakura, I know everything." She stated  
>Sakura was confused by this, of course she knew that Tsunade knew everything wasn't that what she was mad about?<p>

"I mean _**everything**_" Tsunade emphasizing her words.  
>Sakura understood now.<p>

"_Oh shit_, _she knows about Naruto being a demon fox"  
><em>The guilt showed on Sakura's face.

"You brought one of the most dangerous threats to the hidden leaf _**inside**_ the hidden leaf village and then lied to me" Tsunade said keeping her cool.

"I-"Sakura was cut off.

"Do you realize what he did to that man? All the village's he has destroyed? That could be the hidden leaf that could be you" Tsunade said with a subtle hint of rage.

"Y-you don't know him" Sakura said defensively.

"AND YOU DO?" Tsunade said now filled with rage.  
>Sakura's eyes fogged up but she refused to let herself cry.<p>

"Sakura he is a threat to our village"  
>Sakura stayed silent, she just couldn't believe how her life could go so right to so wrong in the blink of an eye.<p>

"Sakura, I regret to say I have no choice but to suspend you until the Shinobi council can analyse the situation and decide what to do with you"  
>"I-I can't be a ninja anymore?" Sakura blurted out.<br>Tsunade didn't answer.  
>The Anbu opened the door for Sakura.<p>

Tsunade turned her back to Sakura, as Sakura walked out of the room she heard a faint sob from her. This killed Tsunade.

She sighed sadly.  
>She really didn't want to do that.<p>

Tsunade turned to the group of Anbu on her right.

"Don't let him out of your sight" She said sounding stressed.

-  
>Sakura arrived at her front door.<br>She opened it and walked in to see Naruto sitting on the floor.  
>She really didn't know what to say.<br>Naruto stood up when she entered the room.  
>Sakura did the opposite.<p>

She fell onto the floor in floods of tears.  
>Naruto was shocked.<br>He got down on the floor to her.  
>He wrapped his arms around and embraced her as she sobbed and tried to wipe the tears rapidly falling from her eyes.<p>

"T-they kn-ow N-Naruto" Sakura tried to talk while weeping.  
>Naruto guessed she was talking about how he's a demon.<p>

"I-I can't be a s-shinobi a-any-more" Sakura sobbed still attempting to wipe the tears but they just kept falling.  
>Naruto didn't know how to comfort her.<br>He loosened his embrace on her and moved his head down so he could look her in the eyes.

"Please do not make sad noises Sakura" Naruto said affectionately. Desperately trying to make her feel better.  
>Sakura was overwhelmed with sadness, she couldn't stop crying.<p>

"I-I'm sorry Naruto" She choked out.  
>Naruto felt a bad feeling which he didn't recognise as guilt, was this all his fault?<p>

"W-what are we going to do?" Sakura asked sounding distressed.  
>She cried more.<br>Naruto wasn't used to these situations, what should he do?  
>Could he do anything?<p>

Somehow whatever words he conjured up weren't very consoling.  
>Sakura cried well into the night, well he couldn't blame her; her life had basically fallen apart.<br>Naruto decided the best thing he could do now is just hold her for as long as she needed him to.

-  
>END OF CHAPTER 5<p>

Sorry if it seems like a kind of rushed ending ^^' I have lots of idea's but this chapter was getting pretty long so I had to stop it and move onto a new one

Should be up soon!

__


	6. The Calm Before The Storm

It was the next morning after Sakura's disastrous day.  
>Sakura was still asleep; she needed it she was crying most of the night.<br>Naruto was awake.  
>Mostly because he didn't sleep.<p>

He walked over to Sakura in their bed and looked down at Sakura.  
>Naruto had decided the night before when Sakura fell asleep that he had to do something to make Sakura feel better.<br>The only problem being he didn't know what it was yet.  
>So he walked out the door of their apartment and locked it.<p>

He walked out on the street of Konoha; this was his first proper time out in the street alone.  
>It was a little overwhelming.<br>He walked down the street glancing at the stores.  
>There was allot of people.<p>

"Naruto" a gentle voice called.  
>Naruto looked around until his focus landed on a girl in a flower shop.<br>It was Ino, Sakura's friend.  
>He walked in to the store.<p>

Once he entered his senses were overpowered by hundreds of different scents of flower.

"What are you doing around here?" Ino asked sweetly

"Looking for Something to Sakura" Naruto answered nicely.  
>Ino noticed he was not good at talking.<br>She found it quite strange. 

"You mean you want something to give to Sakura?" She asked.  
>He nodded in reply.<br>Ino thought for a bit.

She walked to a bouquet of flowers and picked them up. 

"Here, There on the house" she said as she handed them to Naruto.  
>Naruto took them and looked at Ino.<p>

"She loves those flowers" Ino said with a smile.

"Thank you" he said slowly. 

"You like her don't you?" She asked him rather bluntly.

He looked at Ino immediately with a slight blush forming on his face.  
>"I could tell from the way you look at her" Ino added with a warm smile.<br>Naruto smiled and looked away from Ino.

"Yes" He answered.

Ino sat on top of her counter in the middle of the flower shop.  
>She was writing something on a piece of paper.<p>

"You're not from around here are you?" She asked as she wrote.

"No" Naruto answered to prove right Ino's suspicions.

"You are Sakura's friend?" He asked.

"Best friends since we were like, seven" she answered.  
>There was a small silence.<br>Ino jumped down off her desk.

"Do you know if she likes you" She asked as she looked up at Naruto.

"I don't" he answered looking at the flowers seeming kind of down.  
>Ino noticed she made him feel bad.<p>

"Sakura's a complex person, It hard to break through the walls she has up"  
>Naruto surprisingly, understood what Ino was saying.<p>

"Where do you live?" She asked.

"In an apartment" Naruto answered, remembering the name of the building he lived in.  
>Ino giggled.<p>

"I meant in the village"

"Over there" He pointed to the apartment block where Sakura lived.

"Oh you live in the same apartment block as Sakura, so that's how you know each other, then your new around here?"

"Yes"

Just as Ino was about to ask Naruto his life story she looked at the clock in her store.  
>It was 10:00am.<br>"Oh, you better get those roses to Sakura's house, she's an early riser!" She giggled while gently pushed Naruto out the door.

"T-Thank you Ino" He said as he headed on his way.

-  
>Naruto walked back to their apartment.<br>He opened the door and realized Sakura was already up, just as Ino said.  
>She looked over at Naruto coming in the door.<br>Her eyes were red and inflamed from all of her crying.

"Where did you go?" She asked meekly.  
>He didn't answer but pulled out the bouquet of flowers from behind him instead.<br>Sakura was taken-back.

Sakura took them in her hands and stared at them.  
>Sakura eyes made their way back up to Naruto's<br>she walked over to him and embraced him.

"Thank you" She said sounding emotional.  
>Naruto smiled and put his hand on Sakura's head.<p>

Sakura took the flowers and put them in a vase filled with water.  
>A small card fell out of the flowers.<br>Sakura picked it up.  
>The card read:<p>

"_He's a keeper.  
>-Ino"<em>

Sakura looked over at Naruto who was looking out the window.  
>She looked back at the card again.<p>

"S-Sakura" He called.  
>She turned her head to look at him.<p>

"Are you ok?" He asked slowly and delicately, his English clearly improving.

Sakura honestly didn't know how to answer this question.  
>She felt herself getting emotional again.<br>Naruto noticed his question made her upset.

"I don't think so" she said with her voice cracking.  
>She wanted to cry but resisted the urge.<br>Everything that had happened the day prior ran threw her head.  
>She had finally come to terms with her feelings for Naruto, got taken advantage of and almost raped by a grown man and got suspended from being a shinobi.<br>It was an extremely emotional day, the most emotional day she had ever had.  
>Before she knew it tears were streaming down her face again.<p>

"Sakura, I'm sorry" Naruto spoke again.  
>Sakura looked up at him.<p>

"W-Why?" She asked in confusion.

"It's my fault. I attack the man" Naruto answered.  
>Sakura couldn't believe Naruto was holding himself responsible for her getting suspended from being a shinobi.<p>

"Naruto." She began while looking at him straight in the eye.

"You saved me, you have nothing to feel sorry about, without you I don't know what would have happened" Sakura realized it probably seemed like she didn't want him to have interfered.

"Why does the man force his love to you?" Naruto asked her.  
>She understood what he meant and also realized he didn't know the word for what happened.<p>

"I-I don't know" Sakura said rather quietly.

"Why do humans do this to each other?" he asked a reasonable but unanswerable question.

"...I don't know" Sakura repeated.

Sakura started to cry heavier.  
>Naruto wondered why.<br>Sakura moved in closer to Naruto and held onto his jacket.

"Thank you so much" She choked out.

"Sakura" Naruto said.  
>Sakura looked up at him.<p>

"I will always protect you" Naruto said with the most serious face Sakura had ever seen.

Sakura could feel it in every inch of her body; she was head over heels for Naruto.  
>Which honestly, scared her a little.<br>Sakura backed away slightly from him.  
>She didn't answer him but she didn't have to; her eyes said everything.<p>

"Naruto I'm going to visit Ino at work, she said she'd kill me if we didn't meet up soon" Sakura said smiling.

"Goodbye" Naruto said rather uncertainly.

"I'll see you later" Sakura said grabbing her coat as it was now raining.

-  
>Sakura got to the flower shop and because of the rain it was quite scarce of customers.<p>

Ino and Sakura were sitting on stools behind the desk with cups of green tea in their hands.  
>She was after filling Ino in on everything that had happened between her and Naruto and her and Tsunade.<p>

"That bad huh?" Ino Stated.

"Yeah, I don't know what to do about Naruto or being a Shinobi or anything" Sakura said burying her head in her hands.

"Well there's not much you can do about being a Shinobi" Ino stated bluntly.

"Great" Sakura said slouching.

"But, tell me more about how you feel about Naruto!" Ino asked impatiently.

"Well, I really like him" Sakura said looking at the floor.

"Oooh is that so?" Ino said leaning closer to Sakura.

"W-what?" Sakura said blushing.

"You got it bad Sakura" Ino said with a wink.

"Ah—" Sakura said in response before Ino interrupted.

"It's ok, he loves you Sakura"  
>Sakura eyes widened.<p>

"How-?" Sakura begun to ask.

Suddenly the bell on the door jingled.  
>It was a customer.<p>

"Finally!" Ino said as she stood up.  
>Sakura smiled to herself as she stood up off of her stool.<p>

"How may I help you?" She asked her customer  
>Sakura walked up to Ino and put her hand on Ino's shoulder as she spoke quietly to Ino so the customer didn't here.<p>

"It's getting late I better get home to you-know-who, see you soon"

"It better be soon!" Ino joked before Sakura left.

-  
>Sakura got back to her house, opened the door and walked in.<p>

"Naruto?" She called as she turned the light on.  
>He wasn't home?<p>

_"That's strange, he must have gone out" _Sakura thought to herself.

**"Alone?" **Inner Sakura said to herself.

Sakura sat at her breakfast table and contemplated.

_"Well he went out alone this morning.  
>But it's late now..." <em>Sakura worried.

-  
>Naruto walked down the streets of Konoha, they weren't empty but you can't say there was allot of people in them.<br>_  
><em>He was out to look for another gift for Sakura.  
>Distracted by the many shops in the village.<br>He was suddenly hit by a box.  
>He looked at the person carrying a box.<p>

"Hey watch out bro" The boy joked.

"S-sorry" Naruto replied.

"Heey, Your Sakura's guy aren't you?" he asked threw a sheepish smile.  
>Naruto raised an eyebrow.<p>

"I'm Sakura's friend, the names Kiba" He placed the box down and held his hand out to shake.__

Naruto remembered this gesture from Sakura.  
>Naruto held his hand out to Kiba's and they shook hands.<p>

"What are you doing out here?" Kiba asked curiously.

"Looking for Sakura" he said not knowing that 'looking for Sakura' and 'looking for something for Sakura' were different things.

"Oh well sorry I haven't seen her Naruto, I gotta get this package to Tsunade, see you around!" He said cheerfully as he walked onwards.

"Goodbye!" he replied.

-  
>It was very late now; Naruto was still wondering the streets.<br>All the stores were closed which made his plan to cheer Sakura up somewhat failed.

Suddenly a sound of footsteps echoed in his fox ears.  
>He spun around to face the direction of the noise.<p>

"Who's there?" He called.

This surprised the Shinobi that were following him,  
>His hearing was better than they expected.<br>Little did they know he had well-disguised fox ears.

Yet they stayed quiet.

"WHO'S THERE?" Naruto called louder.

Suddenly a group of Shinobi dressed in all black jumped out from the nearby trees and pinned Naruto to the ground.  
>He struggled violently making it hard for them to keep him there.<p>

"Stay still beast" one of the men said, although Naruto wasn't sure which one.  
>One of the men took out a blade and stabbed it threw Naruto's fox ear and into the ground.<p>

Naruto screeched in pain.

"That ought to keep him still" said in a man's voice.

"So that's how he heard us" another man said.  
>Naruto tried to move his hand up to cradle his ear but the men kept him strongly pinned down.<br>He didn't have the power or stamina to fight back now.

Naruto breathed deeply with the searing pain rushing threw his body.  
>He was losing allot of blood.<br>He started to feel light headed and drowsy.

-  
>Later, Sakura was out on the streets, Desperate to find Naruto.<br>The streets were empty.  
>Sakura went to the only place she could think of.<p>

Tsunade opened her door to see Sakura standing at it with a look of pure sadness.

"Sakura?"

"Naruto's gone" She chocked.

"W-what?"

"I-I went out today a-and I c-came back and he was go-ne" Sakura said through tears.

Tsunade was aware that this was possibly better for the village that the demon fox was gone but Sakura was hysterical she couldn't leave her like that.

"Come in" Tsunade welcomed Sakura in.

"Surely If he is kidnapped he is well able to take care of himself"

"N-no, he-e doesn't know any-thing about h-how h-humans live"  
>Tsunade could tell she Sakura had made herself sick with worry over Naruto.<p>

"Sakura, you can't do anything in this state, you need to calm down get some sleep and clear your head"  
>Sakura looked at Tsunade, she wanted to disagree but she couldn't she knew Tsunade spoke the truth.<p>

"I know it'll be hard to sleep peacefully with Naruto gone but you have to try, we'll send out a search party for him tomorrow" Tsunade said as she comforted Sakura.  
>This surprised Sakura because this was better for the hidden leaf village.<p>

"T-Thank you" Sakura wept to Tsunade as she gave her a final hug before she headed home.

-  
>Sakura walked in her front door and turned on her light.<br>She looked around her modest apartment.  
>The apartment she always complained was too small was suddenly too big for her alone.<p>

Sakura changed into her pyjama's and got into her bed.  
>Sakura felt even worse now.<br>Her bed seemed so empty, for the last mouth or two she had shared it with Naruto.

Sakura turned over and tried to get some sleep.

-  
>END OF CHAPTER 6<p>

re-reading the chapters showed me that there written quite all over the place sorry about that D:

will get writing chapter 7 soon! =^-^=

___  
><em> 


	7. The Storm

Sakura woke as the sunlight hit her eyes.  
>She didn't hesitate to get dressed and head straight to Tsunade's office.<p>

She entered the door to her office.

"Still no sign off him?" Tsunade asked assuming she knew the answer.  
>Sakura shook her head.<p>

"Ok I'll get a search squad together—"

"Can I be in it?" Sakura interrupted.  
>There was a pause.<p>

"I don't have to be a hidden leaf shinobi, it'll just be this mission" Sakura mumbled.

"Alright" Tsunade answered.  
>Which maid Sakura slightly happier, but no smile appeared on her saddened face.<p>

Later Kiba, Neji, Kakashi and Sakura were gathered in Tsunade's office.

"You are all gathered here to track down a missing villager" Tsunade began.

"You were specially selected for this mission so please don't let us down"

"Kiba, Akamaru can get scents can't he?" Sakura asked with a worried expression.

"Of course!" Kiba said proudly.

"Whose scent are we trying to catch here?" Neji asked.  
>"Naruto" Sakura stated with a pained expression.<p>

"OH!" Kiba exclaimed.  
>Everyone in the room looked to him.<p>

"Blonde Hair? Weird face?" Kiba explained Naruto's features.

"_**Weird Face?"**_Inner Sakura thought angrily.

_"Wait that means he must have seen him" _Sakura told herself.

"Y-you've seen him!" Sakura asked hopefully.

"Yeah at about one last night, I was taking the box of herbs I picked up to your office Lady Tsunade" Kiba explained.

"Did you talk to him?" Tsunade asked.

"Yeah, I asked him what he was doing out so late and he said 'looking for Sakura'?" Kiba said now rather confused.

"Looking for me?" Sakura asked herself aloud.  
>Kiba shrugged.<p>

"I told him were I was..." Sakura said.

"Sakura, did you not say he was bad a Japanese? Could he have meant something else?" Tsunade pointed out.

"Yeah that's write he doesn't know allot of Japanese words yet" Sakura thought.  
>She then shook her head.<p>

"It's not important what he meant, what's important is us finding him, now we know that Kiba saw him at 1 o' clock so whatever happened after that" Sakura said.

"Kiba, can you take us to where you last saw him?" Neji asked.

"Of course, follow me!" Kiba jumped out of Tsunade office window.

"Not subtle is he" Tsunade said.  
>Sakura and Neji followed out the window.<br>Tsunade sighed.

"Get them back in one piece Kakashi will you?" Tsunade asked.

"Will do Lady Tsunade" Kakashi said and followed the rest of the team.

-  
>They landed in the said spot where Kiba was talking with Naruto yesterday night.<p>

"Here we are!" Kiba said hopping of Akamaru's back.

"Ok from here we split up, two of you keep going forward" Kakashi said pointing at Kiba and Sakura.

"Neji and I will go that way"

"If we need to meet up again just whistle" Kakashi said as he headed off with Neji.

It wasn't long before Akamaru picked up the scent of Naruto's blood.  
>He howled.<p>

"He's got something!" Kiba said grabbing Sakura's arm and running after Akamaru.

After running a moderate distance down the street they found a small pool of blood that seemed to be drying.  
>Akamaru barked at it.<br>Kiba and Sakura kneeled down beside it.

"It's his blood" Kiba stated.  
>Sakura put her hand over her mouth in shock.<p>

"_It can't be" _Sakura thought to herself.

Kiba whistled loudly and after a short wait Kakashi and Neji showed up.

"We found some blood" Kiba informed them.  
>Kakashi looked over at a stunned Sakura.<p>

"Sakura, this blood probably isn't enough to kill him and from this we can track him" he said as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Your right" Sakura agreed.

"Akamaru's got the sent!" Kiba said as Akamaru started to run.

"Move out!" Kakashi ordered.

-  
>Naruto opened his eyes.<br>It was now day time and he was in a cave,  
>but it was not his cave.<br>He was alone.

He sat up and realized there was a pool of blood beneath him.  
>He reached up to his ear and felt it.<br>It was in pretty bad shape.  
>Much worse than when Sakura threw the Kunai at it.<br>He had lost quite allot of blood.

"_How did I get here?" _Naruto thought to himself.  
>While inspecting his ear Naruto realized his arms and feet were chained down. Whoever kidnapped him had planned this.<p>

"The Nine Tails has awoken" A mysterious voice spoke from Naruto's far left.

Naruto moved his unharmed ear in the direction of the voice.

"Ah, Naruto" A different voice said sounding friendly, but Naruto could tell it was fake.  
>He stayed quite.<p>

"What no hello?" A blonde haired man said immerging from the dark.

"What do you want" Naruto finally spoke.

"You mean _we_" said by the strangest looking _thing _Naruto had ever seen.  
>He was a sort of shark looking being.<p>

"We?" Naruto questioned as he didn't know much about tenses yet.

Finally three men dressed all in long black cloaks with red clouds scattered around them immerged from the darkness.

"Judging by your questioning I suspect you don't know who we are, can't say I'm surprised" a black haired young adult man said.

"We are they Akatsuki" The man spoke again.

"What do you want from me?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"Want? What makes you think we want something? Can't we just be friends?" the blonde man said as he approached Naruto.

Naruto reached his hand out to punch the man but was stopped by the chains.

"I guess not..." The blonde man answered his own question.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Naruto shouted at them.

The three men exchanged looks at each other.

"We have to tell him sometime" The blonde man said with a shrug and a sigh.

"What we want from you is...to destroy the village of Konoha" The shark looking man said.  
>Naruto's eyes widened.<br>His first thoughts were of Sakura.

"No" He said bluntly.  
>"Hey hey hey, don't be so hasty!"<p>

"Anyway...from what I heard you're not very well liked by the village anyway are ya?" the blonde man said.

Naruto stayed quiet.  
>But he couldn't deny what the man had said; he wasn't liked by the village.<p>

"Why spare them any thoughts, they don't think of your feelings do they?" he continued.

Naruto didn't give it a second thought, Sakura meant more to him then his own life.

"I give up there's no getting through to this kid!"  
>The blonde man said with another shrug.<p>

"Naruto, what is it that you want to protect so bad that you would risk your life over the meaningless life of the konoha villagers" A red eyed man said calmly.

Suddenly four leaf Shinobi crashed into the cave.  
>The three men looked over at them seemingly un-effected by the Shinobi's entrance.<p>

"S-SAKURA!" Naruto shouted with glee.  
>The red eyed man noticed this.<br>He also noticed that the Shinobi were from the leaf village.

"Leaf village inhabitants?" The man asked the un-announced visitors.

"Akatsuki" Kakashi said in reply.

"Ah Kakashi Hatake, you are leaf village ninja.  
>I see." The man with the Sharingan eye examined.<br>He approached the Shinobi standing most forward in the group.  
>It was Sakura.<p>

"You're the reason" He said to Sakura.  
>Naruto's eyes widened.<br>They had figured it out.

"Excuse me?" Sakura replied

the man grabbed her arm.

"Get off me" Sakura said wrenching her arm away but the man did not let go.  
>The Blonde haired man used a sleeping gas bomb on Kiba, Kakashi and Neji.<br>This took effect immediately.

Sakura made a sound of dismay but she was lost for words.  
>The man with the red eyes pulled Sakura away from her allies sleeping bodies even with Sakura struggling violently.<p>

He then cupped Sakura's face with his hand.  
>"My, what a pretty face you have"<br>Sakura sneered her face in discussed.  
>She then slapped him across the face.<p>

"Don't you dare touch me you little bitch!" He replied while putting his arm around her neck.

"Itachi" The shark man said revealing the man's name.

"Take care of her, Kisame" Itachi said to the shark man, Now known as Kisame.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Naruto shouted at Kisame, but Kisame ignored him.

He sliced both her arms and legs but to Sakura and Naruto surprise there was no blood, no pain and they stayed attached to her body.

Suddenly Sakura lost feeling in her arms and legs; she almost fell and almost hit the ground but her arm was caught by Kisame.  
>He dragged her over to Itachi without any resistance this time.<br>He threw her to Itachi.

"Happy?" Kisame asked.

Itachi held her out to Naruto.  
>Naruto reached out for her but she was just barely out of his reach.<br>He laughed evilly.

"LET HER GO!" Naruto shouted.

"Heh"

"Why, Naruto I believe we've found your weakness" The blonde man said with a smirk.

Itachi took out a Kunai and put it to Sakura's neck.

"What do you think Deidara, should I do it" Itachi said with an evil chuckle.  
>Naruto's pupils began to dilate and turned red.<br>His whisker marks began to get thicker and darker.

"Whoa there" Deidara said.

"Naruto..." Sakura said looking into Naruto's eyes.

He began to pull the chains keeping him in place.  
>The three men of the Akatsuki noticed this.<p>

"Hey hey, you better calm down before he does something to your little girlfriend" Deidara spoke pushing the kunai closer to her skin.

Naruto was filled with rage but had no choice but to try and calm down.  
>He began to fade back to his normal state.<p>

"So Naruto, How would you like to assist us in the destruction of the hidden leaf in exchange for your girlfriend's life hmm? That's what was stopping you wasn't it?"

"Naruto, Don't do it" Sakura said to Naruto.

"Quite!" Itachi said as he used a sleeping drug on Sakura.  
>He let go of her arm.<br>Naruto reached out for her but she was yet again, just out of his reach.

"S-Sakura" Naruto said sadly.

"We'll give you time to think" Itachi said as he and the three other men disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto dropped to his knees and reached unsuccessfully out to Sakura.  
>Tears began to run down Naruto's face.<p>

-  
>It was a couple of hours later but Naruto was still in the same position as before, trying desperately to reach for Sakura.<br>Suddenly he saw a figure of someone approach him.

This man had a strange aura, it was extremely powerful.

"Hello, Naruto"  
>Naruto realised that the man was dressed in the same cloths as the rest of the 'Akatsuki' but his faced was still covered by darkness.<br>Naruto did not answer.  
>The man could tell Naruto was reaching out for the girl in front of him.<br>He walked closer to Sakura and lifted her up.  
>This caused Naruto to become defensive.<p>

"Don't tou-" Naruto was about to finish before the man placed Sakura rest on Naruto's body.  
>Naruto wrapped his arms around Sakura as to not let her go again.<p>

"T-thank you" Naruto said wearily.  
>He stared at the man; his face was no longer shadowed but was covered by an orange mask.<p>

"Don't thank me so soon" and with that the man was gone.

Naruto thought for a while, about what a week it had been for both him and Sakura.  
>He looked down at Sakura.<br>He rested her head on his shoulder and the rest of her body leaded on his chest and lap.  
>She looked strained.<br>He brushed a mark off her cheek.

"Naruto..." She mumbled  
>but she was still asleep.<p>

There was a flash of smoke and the three men appeared in the cave once more.

Naruto looked in their direction.

"Well Hello again Naruto" Deidara said.  
>There were now four men, the man with the orange mask had returned.<br>Naruto again, didn't answer.

"Have you thought over our proposal Naruto?" Itachi asked him.  
>Naruto avoided their gaze.<p>

"You haven't thought about it?" Itachi questioned.  
>Naruto didn't speak.<p>

"Well-"

"You promise Sakura will be safe?" Naruto finally spoke up.

"Well of course" Itachi reassured Naruto.

"Ok..." Naruto said painfully.  
>"WOO-HOO, That's what we like to here!" Deidara proclaimed.<br>The man in the orange masked waved his hand to calm him down.

Kisame approached Naruto and took Sakura away from him.

"W-what are you taking?" Naruto said badly.

"We'll just consider her as a reminder of what's at stake, eh Naruto?" He explained.  
>Naruto got the concept that if he didn't stick to the plan Sakura would get hurt.<p>

"Well, shall we head of then?" Itachi asked his other Akatsuki members.  
>Naruto was a little taken off guard by how fast there were going to do this.<p>

"Come with us" Kisame said as he unchained Naruto.  
>He shoved Naruto in front of them.<p>

"Lead the way" He barked at Naruto.  
>Naruto was in a pretty threatening position as the men traveling behind him were all heavily armed.<p>

There was no turning back now.

END OF CHAPTER 7

Sorry to end it on a cliff hanger but if I continued this chapter would be too long ^^' next update should be soon! :D 


	8. Savior?

The Akatsuki and Naruto stood in the mountains above Konoha.  
>This was it.<p>

Abruptly there was a jolt of lightning that surged through Naruto's body.  
>This caused Naruto to collapse.<p>

~~~  
>**AN: Naruto can speak so well here because he isn't speaking in Japanese. Also this is the first time he has met the Demon Fox because every other time He changed to demon fox it was because he was Angry or Afraid**

Naruto awoke in a long narrow hall filled to ankle length with water.  
>He progressed further into it.<p>

"Hello?" He called out  
>He found himself in a room with no walls but peculiar bar's blocking him from moving any further.<p>

There appeared to be a seal on the bars.  
>Naruto walked closer to the bars and inspected the seal.<p>

Suddenly a giant pair of claws rushed towards the gate and crashed almost all the way through it.  
>Naruto stumbled backwards in shock.<p>

"W-who?" Naruto chocked out.

**"You don't know me?"** The beast said.  
>Naruto examined the creature before him.<p>

"D-Demon fox" Naruto proclaimed.

**"How did you guess?"** The demon said sarcastically.  
>Naruto gulped.<p>

"**What do you want?" **The demon breathed heavily.

"C-Can you lend me your power? I have to protect someone very important to me"

**"Hmmm...What's in it for me?" **The Kyuubi asked suspiciously.

"To protect this person I have to attack the hidden leaf village" Naruto said with a look of guilt.

**"Ha, Sounds good to me"** with those words the Kyuubi's chakra swarmed around Naruto's body and began to choke him.  
>He became unbearable.<p>

"_A-am I going to die?" _Naruto said thought as he started to black out.

~~~

"Perfect" Itachi spoke as Naruto made the transition into demon fox right before his eyes.

This time was not like the last, or the time before.  
>There was no fear or anger.<br>Only Driven by his goal of protecting Sakura.

Deidara cackled as he reached complete demon state.

This was it. He wasn't Naruto anymore.  
>Friends and foes; they were nothing to it.<p>

With one faint swoop of its 9 tails and chaos begun.  
>Buildings crashed down, Civilians got blown hundreds of feet into the air.<p>

It roared louder than ever before.  
>This alerted Shinobi all over the leaf village.<br>Including the Hokage, Tsunade.

"What in the worl-..." she stated slowly before realising the monster in the distance, entering into the hidden leaf village.

"Shizune, send out an emergency call for all of the leaf Shinobi's" Tsunade said with a hint of fear seeping into her voice.

"Right away my lady" Shizune responded and left.

-  
>All the Shinobi of the hidden leaf village were standing at the entrance to the village, in hopes of protecting their home and loved ones.<p>

"We didn't have time to strategize for this, so the best we can do is attempt an all-out assault on the demon, and hope for a good outcome" Tsunade said reluctantly.

"Understood?" She turned to face the multiple ninja behind her.  
>With that the ninja took off in an attempt to at least stall the beast approaching there village.<br>Because there was no time to allocate teams for the mission, all shinobi have been put into their original Genin teams.

Team Asuma was the first to properly approach the demon fox.

_"T-this is Naruto?"_ Ino thought to herself remembering what Sakura had told her.  
>She looked up at the beast in horror.<p>

"Who'd to bet my shadow imitation jutsu won't work on this bastard huh?" Shikamaru said with a smirk.  
>Ino gulped and looked towards Shikamaru.<br>He looked back at her.  
>She gave him a warm smile and shook her head.<br>Shikamaru let out a little chuckle.

"This is no time for jokes Shikamaru, we have to focus"  
>Asuma pointed out.<p>

"He's right, let's get down to business" Ino stated.  
>Chouji and Shikamaru stood in alignment with her.<p>

Followed closely by the others of the original 'Rookie 9'

"GO!" Ino and Shikamaru said in unison.  
>And with those words the Demon Fox was hit by a barrage of Shinobi's unleashing there most lethal attacks.<p>

Kiba jumped high into the air and popped a pill out of his pocket and swallowed it.

"Akamaru!" he called.  
>Akamaru appeared next to his master.<p>

"FANG PASSING FANG!" Kiba exclaimed as he and Akamaru charged spiralling towards The Demon.  
>It had little effect other than irritating the fox a little.<p>

Kiba landed harshly on the ground.

"Damn it!"  
>Shino approached him.<p>

"Are you alright?" He said rather monotoned.

"Yeah...But it didn't even affect him" Kiba said clenching his fist.

"Let Me try!" Said a rather silly voice from behind Kiba and Shino.  
>They turned around to reveal Rock Lee.<p>

Kiba swiped his hand towards the demon to gestured for lee to 'go ahead'  
>Lee smiled confidently.<br>He un rolled the bandages from his arms.

"W-whoa there Lee" Ten Ten said.  
>Lee looked at her.<p>

"Aren't you being a little hasty opening the chakra gates?"  
>Ten Ten worried.<p>

"Ten Ten, I must do what I can to protect the village!" Lee said proudly.

Ten Ten closed her eyes.  
>And Lee hurled himself towards the demon.<br>Who was distracted by other Ninja.

"_Perfect timing!"_ Lee thought to himself with a glint in his eye.  
>But suddenly the Demon turned harshly to face Lee.<p>

"Primary L-" Lee was cut off by the demon merely flicking him away with one of its many tails.

While Lee spiralled threw the air, He spotted something. Something peculiar.

He spotted Men in Black jackets with red clouds standing at the mountaintops.  
>And a girl was in one of their arms.<p>

"S-Sakura?" Lee mumbled  
>before crashing onto the ground.<p>

"Lee are you alright?" Ino said as she ran over to heal him.  
>Followed Closely by Shikamaru, Chouji and Ten Ten.<p>

"Sakura!" Lee announced.

"Eh...No, Ino" Ino said in return.

"No, No I saw Sakura up in the mountains, in the hands of some strange men!" Lee panickly explained.

"Sakura is-?" Ino said startled.

Ino quickly stood up and turned to Shikamaru.

"Can you take care of things from here?" Ino said warmly and softly touched Shikamaru's Arm.

"Of Course" Shikamaru said with a soft smile.  
>Ino starred at him for a moment, trying to accept that this could be the last time she sees his face properly.<p>

She then took off to look for Tsunade.

"T-Tsunade-san!" Ino called while making her way up to her.

"Ino?" Tsunade questioned while healing the injured.

"T-Tsunade-San Lee said he saw Sakura in the hands of men in black and red coats in the mountaintops" Ino said with fear and worry ripe in her voice.

"W-what?" Tsunade exclaimed.

"The Akatsuki?" Ino asked, scarred to hear the answer.  
>Tsunade didn't reply instantly.<p>

"Ino, could you take over healing the wounded here?"  
>This answered Ino's question.<p>

"Of course" Ino said bending down and healing the injured.

Tsunade ran faster than ever before up to the mountains.

-

"Hahaha! Look at them trying to fight of this thing!" Deidara cackled.

"Pitiful." Itachi replied.

Suddenly a woman came hurtling towards them and crashed into the ground.  
>They narrowly avoided this ambush.<p>

"WHAO" Deidara exclaimed as he jumped out of the way.

The smoke cleared revealing Tsunade.

"What are you doing in my village?"

"Isn't it obviously?" Deidara replied smartly.

"ANSWER ME" Tsunade threatened.

"Revenge" Kisame spoke with an evil smile.  
>Tsunade launched herself at the men full-force,<br>But for some reason they were only avoiding her attacks.

"There is little you can do now; shouldn't you be helping your village?" Itachi broke his silence.

"Why have you got Sakura" Tsunade said clenching her fist to stop herself from trying to grab her from them.

The Akatsuki exchanged looks to each other momentarily.

"Take her" Itachi said throwing Sakura over to Tsunade.

"We have no use for her anymore" Deidara said giggling.

"It's gone too far now!" He said finally before the three of them disappeared.  
>Tsunade caught Sakura and laid her down on the ground.<p>

"Release" Tsunade said realising the sleeping Jutsu she was under.  
>Sakura woke up slowly.<p>

"Sakura please wake up" Tsunade said sternly as it was an emergency.

"W-what?" Sakura said drowsily.

"Sakura I don't have time to hang around, do you think you can get somewhere safe? You're too drowsy to fight; you can't go to your house ok? It's too dangerous" Tsunade said hoping she would take her advice and teleported back to the injured.

"F-fight?" Sakura questioned aloud to herself.  
>Suddenly she saw a horrible sight.<br>The village being destroyed by the demon fox.  
>This snapped Sakura right out of her Drowsy state.<p>

"No way!" Sakura said to herself as she picked herself up off the ground.  
>Overwhelmed with emotion she couldn't think straight, leading to her doing the exact opposite to what Tsunade requested.<br>She began to run down the large mountain towards the even larger demon facing the village.

"NARUTO!" Sakura called out mournfully.

-  
>All of the 'Rookie 9' aside from Ino were now on the battle field trying to tackle this demon.<br>Shikamaru turned his head in the direction of the faint scream he heard.  
>He saw Sakura running down the hill towards the demon.<p>

"SAKURA?" Shikamaru called back.  
>Before Shikamaru could do anything the Demon swiped for him and hit him full force in the gut.<p>

Sakura stumbled slightly on the mountain when she got close enough to see the sight of the damage done to the village.  
>She dropped to her knees.<br>The sight was horrific.  
>Tears began to gather in her eyes as she realized who had done this to the village.<p>

"Naruto..." Sakura mumbled as tears rolled down her cheeks.  
>She couldn't believe this whole time, Tsunade was right.<br>He _**was**_ a threat to the village.

"_I can't believe this, Tsunade was right..." _Sakura thought to herself

"**Love is blind" **Inner Sakura gave some valuable input.

Images of Naruto flashed threw her mind.  
>Along with ferocious images of the demon fox.<br>This can't be the same person, could it?  
>All of this emotion welled up inside Sakura until...<br>It burst.

"NARUTO!" Sakura cried out.

Suddenly the demon stopped.  
>Sakura's cry seemed to have an effect on it.<br>The Shinobi's halted fire.

~~~  
>Naruto's eyes shot open.<br>He was trapped in the chakra of the demon fox.

"S-Sakura" Naruto called out.

"**What is it now boy?" **The demon fox hissed.  
>"What are you doing?" Naruto asked the Demon<p>

"**What you told me to Kid" **The demon answered cheekily.

"No, Why can I hear Sakura crying?" Naruto asked with rage developing in his voice.  
>There was no reply.<p>

"The whole point of this was to protect Sakura, if she's crying she isn't protected, let me out!" Naruto said squirming to get out of the tight charka holding him in place. 

"**Listen kid, you gave the control to me remember? So I'm not done until I say I'm done, got it?" **the demon instructed while tightening his grip on Naruto.

-  
>Sakura stumbled to her feet and continued to run towards the demon that was turned back towards the village.<br>Sakura's eyes could not believe her eyes as she approached it.  
>He was viciously attacking the village, her comrades, <em>His Friends.<br>_She couldn't take it.

"STOP!" Sakura screamed painfully.

The beast stopped suddenly and turned to her.  
>The demon raised its claw viciously swiped his for her.<br>Suddenly Sakura felt a deep pain in her arm and she fell back to the ground.

She was stunned.  
>She raised her hand and placed it on her arm.<br>She lifted it in front of her eyes.  
>There was blood.<br>Naruto had injured her.

Sakura lay on the ground with a blank stare.  
>Tsunade and Ino ran to her.<p>

"Sakura!" Ino cried.  
>Tsunade lifted Sakura slightly to try and heal her arm.<p>

"His ears..." Sakura said blankly.  
>Ino turned her head towards Sakura.<br>Tsunade thought carefully for a moment.

_"The reason he attacked Sakura is because she screamed_,  
>Could she mean that his weakness is his ears?"<br>Tsunade analysed.

"Ino, Take good care of Sakura!"  
>Tsunade took off toward the other Shinobi.<p>

-

"S-Sakura?" Naruto said with a blank stare.

_"__**She was in the way" **_the demon answered.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE" Naruto squirmed in his charka chains.  
>The demon laughed at him.<p>

"**You're not getting out of there" **He informed Naruto.

"_I-is she still alive?" _Naruto thought irrational thoughts.

"**Why would you care** **about those pathetic humans?"**

**"**DON'T TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT." Naruto snapped back sharply.

"Sakura is different..." Naruto said with tears appearing in his eyes.  
>Naruto's extreme emotions over powered the demon; to an extent.<br>He had temporary control of the beast.

-  
>The demon stood over Sakura's still body.<p>

He reached his large paw down to her.  
>This startled Ino beyond belief.<br>She froze with fear.  
>She looked up to this monsters face.<br>It was crying?

But to her surprise the demon did not harm Sakura.  
>It lifted Sakura's tiny body slightly.<br>Looking at her arm injury.  
>It stroked her face.<p>

Ino watched in amazement and fear,  
>but she didn't stop the demon.<p>

Suddenly a barrage of projectile weapons swarmed the demon.  
>Most aimed at its ears.<br>Ino ducked to the ground and covered her head.  
>Startled and injured by the multiple weapons thrown the demon, still under Naruto's control placed Sakura down by Ino again and retreated to the vast forest behind the hidden leaf village.<p>

Ino lifted her head to look around her.  
>It was a disaster.<br>Luckily the demon didn't get too far into the village.

-

Sakura opened her eyes in Tsunade's office.

"Hmm?" Sakura said drowsily.  
>Tsunade was bandaging up her arm.<p>

"Ah Sakura you have regained consciousness" Tsunade said.

"How did I lose consciousness?" Sakura wondered, as there was no injury to her head.

"I think it was extreme emotional trauma" Tsunade pointed out.

"Oh..." was all Sakura thought to say.

"There was poison in your injury, we got most of it out but the residue is still there and could be quite painful for the next few days" Tsunade explained as she finished up the bandaging.

Tsunade realised Sakura was crying.

"Is he gone?" Sakura spoke sadly.  
>Tsunade knew she was talking about Naruto.<br>She did not answer but pulled Sakura over to her and hugged her.

"Sakura, He is a demon, weather he looks like it or not he is.  
>It's in his blood, No matter how much you want to deny it." Tsunade explained what Sakura didn't want to hear.<br>Sakura wept slightly louder.

"Sakura I have to tell you something that's rather difficult for me to say" Tsunade began.

"There will be an assassination party sent out to track him down and assassinate him tomorrow morning"  
>Sakura gasped.<br>This was a shock to her.

"I urge you to forget your feelings for him Sakura.  
>I say this in your best interest; the pain may be too much for you"<p>

Sakura nodded her head.

"Sakura can you promise me something" Tsunade said in more of a statement than a question.

"What?" Sakura wondered.

"If he returns, you will call the assassin's to do away with him"  
>These words broke Sakura's heart.<br>It felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest.  
>Sakura pause momentarily.<p>

"Yes." Sakura said sadly.

-  
>END OF CHAPTER 8<p>

Sorry to make it such a cliff-hanger but the chapter was getting too long D:

I'll try and update soon! 


	9. Constantly Failing You

-  
><em>Last Chapter<em>

_"Sakura can you promise me something" Tsunade said in more of a statement than a question._

_"What?" Sakura wondered._

_"If he returns, you call the assassin's to do away with him"  
>These words broke Sakura's heart.<br>It felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest.  
>Sakura pause momentarily.<em>

_"Yes." Sakura said sadly.  
><em>

Sakura left Tsunade's office and walked out onto the streets off Konoha.  
>She couldn't believe what had happened.<br>What she had just agreed to.  
>She had major conflicting views of Naruto.<p>

There was a shuffling in the bushes and trees behind Sakura.  
>Sakura's heart started to beat rapidly.<br>She began to walk faster.  
>She heard footsteps quickly approaching her.<br>Before she could turn around she felt a hand grab her.

"AH-" She screamed until she turned around to reveal someone.

"Naruto..." Sakura said emotionally to the boy standing before her.  
>She looked at his ears which were flopped downwards; they were in pretty bad shape.<p>

"Sakura" Naruto said warmly.  
>He reached out his arms to her.<br>She backed away.  
>This hurt Naruto.<p>

"S-Sakura?" Naruto questioned sadly.

"Naruto, why did you do this, why did you agree to destroy the village?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura I-I did it to save you" Naruto said as he reached out and touched her arm, she flinched.  
>It was the same arm she had bandaged up.<p>

"Naruto I don't think we can...be together anymore" Sakura announced almost emotionlessly.  
>These words echoed in Naruto's mind.<p>

"W-what?" he said slightly laughing, hoping that this was all a joke.

"...I don't know if I can trust you anymore" Sakura's 'emotionless' front she was putting on cracked, she was now welling up with emotions so strong she could barely control them.

"Don't say that" Naruto said bluntly.  
>Sakura looked up at him.<p>

"Naruto, you're not who I thought you were" Sakura said with tears rolling down her face.

"You're dangerous; you're a threat to the village and all the people in it" Sakura said while staring up at Naruto.  
>She was desperately trying to find a way for them to stay together. She still loved him, although she knew she shouldn't.<p>

"S-Sakura!" Naruto called.

"Naruto, Don't make this harder than it needs to be" Sakura retorted, not making eye contact with him.

"Please don't do this—" Naruto worded well.

"NARUTO, LEAVE ME ALONE" Sakura's emotions burst.  
>Naruto stopped in shock.<p>

What she had said to Naruto was to leave her alone.  
>But her eyes said something else.<br>Her eyes said she wanted him to stay.

"_NO Sakura, there's no way you can disobey Lady Tsunade's orders again..." _Sakura thought to herself.

Before she knew it she was crying.  
>This greatly confused Naruto.<p>

Sakura hung her head and tried to wipe the tears rapidly falling from her eyes.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked sadly.  
>But he did not make any movement towards her.<br>Sakura was afraid to look up.  
>Look up to those big sad blue eyes.<br>"I'm Sorry..." Sakura said after a short silence.  
>Naruto moved toward Sakura.<br>He put his hand on her cheek and kissed her forehead.

Sakura looked up into his eyes.

"_I can't do this" _Sakura thought to herself.

Sakura took Naruto's hand off of her face and held it tightly with in her own.

"Naruto, you can't stay here because there are hidden leaf village assassins after you. You have to leave Naruto I don't want you to die" Sakura said with tears gathering in her eyes again.

"I don't mind, I only mind Sakura!" Naruto said badly.

"No Naruto" Sakura said letting go of him.  
>She backed away from him.<p>

"Please stay safe" Sakura said sadly and ran off before she could talk herself into doing anything stupid.

-

Sakura crashed in the door of her apartment and collapsed onto the floor in floods tears.

"This is all my fault!" Sakura said angry with herself.

"_Why did I have to take him home with me, why didn't I just leave him there!" _Sakura thought to herself.__

_"__**Because you knew if you did that he would die" **_Inner Sakura answered.

_"Well if that's true, then why couldn't I have left him after he recovered" _Sakura fought with herself.

"**Because you love him, Stupid!"**

Sakura couldn't deny this. She knew it was the answer but she desperately searched for a different answer.  
>She stood up swiftly and paced around her room.<br>She tried to think of something to occupy her time and take her mind off of Naruto.  
>She looked at the clock in her apartment.<br>It was 11:15pm

"Well it's pretty late I guess I'll go to sleep" Sakura said aloud to herself.

She sat on her bed; she did not change into her sleepwear for a simple reason. She knew she wasn't going to sleep.

"_He did say he was protecting me..."  
><em>Sakura thought to herself.

"**Sakura don't!" **Inner Sakura argued.

"_He doesn't have family how would he know that it would bother me so much Y'know?"_

_"_**Sakura you-we can't disobey Lady Tsunade again"**Inner Sakura tried to persuade her.

But it was too late.

Sakura jumped to her feet and ran out the door once again.

-

Naruto sat in the ally way where Sakura left him.  
>What else could he do?<br>Where can he go?  
>He was heartbroken, alone and disorientated.<br>He had never felt a pain the bad before, and it wasn't his ears.

Suddenly a strange sensation came over his body.  
>He yelped out in pain. A pain different from the heartbreak he was dealing with but physical pain.<br>He crouched into a ball and held his stomach as his hands began to shake violently.

His finger nails began to extend and become more claw like.  
>Naruto could tell where this was going.<br>He felt a surge of pain coming from his left eye.  
>It felt like someone was trying to gauge his eye out.<br>It began to turn red and his pupil dilated.

His left arm began to twist and lose feeling.  
>Naruto screamed in agony.<br>His whiskers began to thicken on the left side of his face.  
>He leaned his only working hand on the ground to support himself.<br>He felt as if he was going to die.

Out of the blue he heard a soft feminine voice calling out for him.  
>He struggled to raise his head.<br>It was Sakura.  
>She was a short distance away but could not see Naruto as he was shadowed by the darkness of the night.<p>

"Naruto?" She called once more.

"S-Sakura" Naruto Chocked out.  
>But wait.<br>She couldn't see him like this?  
>He looked like a monster.<p>

He tried to stay silent but the pain was too intense.  
>He let out a cry of pure suffering.<p>

"Naruto?" Sakura called out in worry as she approached the area where the noise came from.  
>Naruto struggled to crawl away from her.<p>

"A-are you there Naruto?" Sakura asked to the shadows as she took a step closer.

"Don't!" Naruto answered.  
>Sakura knew it was him now.<p>

"Naruto, where are you?" She asked as she narrowed her eyes.  
>There was a mild silence.<p>

"Naruto I'm sorry about how I acted" She said sadly taking a step backwards.

Naruto desperately wanted to answer her but he could barely assemble a sentence in his situation.  
>He let out an unintentional shriek of pain.<p>

"N-Naruto are you ok?" She asked apprehensively.  
>She moved closer again.<p>

"No Closer!" Naruto exclaimed as he extended his arm to stop her.

"Naruto what's wrong? I can help you!" Sakura said hoping he would come closer to her.

"Don't see me like this" Naruto choked out.

"Naruto please come out, I want to help you...Naruto I love you." Sakura finally spoke the words aloud.  
>Naruto eyes widened.<br>She still loved him?  
>He was overjoyed to here this.<br>He slowly struggled to stand up.  
>He limped towards Sakura.<p>

He finally immerged into the moonlight.  
>Sakura was taken-back.<br>Naruto was a very bad shape.  
>It killed her to see him like this.<br>It was clear to her what was wrong with him.  
>The demon fox is trying to take control of his body.<p>

Naruto hunched over in pain.  
>Sakura crouched slightly and made eye contact with Naruto.<br>She put her hands on either side of Naruto's face.  
>She lightly glided her thumb over Naruto's demon eye.<br>He was trembling.

She helped him walk as they quickly headed back to her apartment.

-  
>Sakura walked through the door supporting Naruto.<br>Naruto crashed to the floor uncomfortably.  
>He appeared to curl into the foetal position.<br>Sakura closed the door behind them and kneeled down to the floor.  
>Naruto was taking short fast breaths, his fists were clenched and he was still trembling.<br>Sakura just watched.  
>She didn't know what to do.<br>What could she do?

"_I can't take this, what do I do?!" _Sakura asked herself.

**"Give him a pain killer?" **InnerSakura suggested.

_"I don't think pain killer is going to work in this kind of situation!" _Sakura snapped back.

**"SORRY, just trying to help"** Inner Sakura retracted.

Sakura quickly pulled Naruto towards her.  
>She rested his forehead on her shoulder and held him tightly.<br>Sakura could tell Naruto was finding it hard to breath.  
>She clenched her eyes shut.<p>

Naruto tried to clear his mind and over power the demon.  
>He began to breathe in and out slower.<p>

"You can you it Naruto" Sakura said calmly.

Naruto struggled to open his eyes and look at her.  
>She smiled warmly at him, letting him know she believes in him.<p>

Slowly but surely, it calmed down.  
>His eyes began to turn back to normal, his nails turned from claws to human nails and his skin turned a normal color.<br>The pain remained but it wasn't as intense.

Naruto exhaled slowly and calmly.  
>Sakura realized the difference in him and let him go.<br>He sat up but stayed close to Sakura.  
>He stroked her cheek like she had done to him so many times before.<p>

"Thank you" He spoke confidently.  
>Sakura chuckled slightly and hugged him tightly again.<p>

"I love you" Naruto repeated Sakura from earlier that night.

"I love you too" Sakura replied without hesitation.

"Naruto..." Sakura began sounding oddly bleak.

Naruto perked his fox ears, which Sakura found adorable.

"I don't think you can stay here" She said looking into Naruto's eyes.

"W-Why?" Naruto said confused.  
>Did she not just say she loved him?<p>

"I would love if you could, don't get me wrong!  
>But it's such an obvious place, if Shinobi are looking for you this is the first place they'll look" Sakura explained.<br>Naruto nodded showing Sakura he understood.

"But I think I know somewhere you can stay" Sakura said with a little smirk.

-

Ino opened her door to find Naruto and Sakura standing before her.  
>Naruto had a blanket thrown over his head but he peered through it.<br>Sakura was smiling sheepishly.  
>Ino stared at the both of them for a couple of seconds.<p>

"No, I know what you're thinking, NO!" She said as she tried to close her front door.

Sakura pushed the door open again.

"Please Ino, It's not forever just for now" Sakura said with her hands together in a begging motion.  
>Ino stayed silent.<p>

"Please." She said with her puppy dog eyes.  
>Ino sighed and opened her door wide enough for Naruto to come in.<br>Sakura's face lit up.

"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!" Sakura squealed as she hugged Ino.  
>Ino stared Sakura with a deadpan expression.<p>

"I'll visit you daily ok?" Sakura said to Naruto.

"Ok" Naruto said with a hint of sadness.

"Be good ok?" She said as she slowly walked away.  
>Ino closed the door and turned to Naruto.<p>

She stared at him.  
>There was an awkward silence.<p>

"SO..." Ino began.  
>Naruto looked at her.<p>

"...Let me show you to your room" Ino led Naruto her living room.  
>She laid blankets on the floor and pillows.<br>Naruto sat down and Ino did the same.

"You look worried?" Ino asked Naruto from the kitchen.  
>He looked in her direction, nodded but stayed silent.<p>

Ino walked in with 2 Wine glasses and a bottle of rosé wine.  
>She poured a glass for herself and for Naruto.<br>She handed it to him

"Here"  
>He inspected the glass in her hand.<p>

"It'll calm you down" She added with a smile.  
>Naruto took the glass in his hand and sniffed the pink liquid.<br>He looked back at Ino who was already taking a sip.  
>Naruto could tell, even from the little amount of time that he knew Ino that she was a girl well beyond her years.<br>She was very independent.

He finally took his first sip.

"You like it?" Ino asked with a smile.  
>Naruto's face gave Ino her answer.<br>His eyes widened and a smile spread across his face.  
>Ino laughed.<p>

"So why don't we have a chat about stuff?" Ino asked Naruto taking another sip of wine.

-  
>It was only a short time later and Naruto was on his second glass of wine.<br>The wine hit him hard.

"Ooooh that clears most things up" Ino said.  
>Naruto nodded his head quickly.<br>He had a crooked smile painted across his face.

"Tell me about Sakura" Ino said smiling at Naruto.

"I love..her" Naruto slurred.

"I can tell the way you are around her and _especially _the way you look at her" Ino said drawing a ring around the top of her glass with her finger.

Naruto raised his head to Ino.

"That clear?" Naruto slurred once again.

"Yes" Ino chuckled.

"She is beautiful...I like her body" Naruto said surprisingly well especially since he was drunk.  
>He slouched down against the back of the coach.<p>

"So you're sexually attracted to her as well?" Ino said with a childish giggle.  
>Naruto laughed back.<br>Though he didn't understand what she said.

"Her speaking is my favourite sound, she smells delicious" Naruto said truthfully.  
>"I think you mean nice" Ino corrected.<p>

"I made that wrong before!" Naruto laughed drunkly.  
>Ino laughed too.<p>

"Mistake" She corrected as she laughed.  
>There was a short silence.<p>

"OH I KNOW I KNOW, we should ring her!" Ino giggled as she spoke.  
>Naruto tilted his head.<br>Ino whipped out her phone and speed dialled Sakura.  
>Naruto was in awe by this.<p>

"You've never seen a phone before?" Ino asked.  
>Naruto giggled childishly and shook his head.<br>Ino smiled back.

It went straight to voice mail; after all it was 2:00am.

"_Hey this is Sakura; I'm busy right now so leave a message after the beep!" _Sakura's voicemail said sweetly.

"Sakura, we called to tell you how much we loooove you" Ino poke into the phone.

"Sakura is in there?" Naruto asked dimly.

"NARUTO, tell Sakura what you told me!" Ino said pushing the phone closer to Naruto.

"I loooove you" He giggled into the phone.  
>"I want to be always with you" he added.<p>

"He said your body is sexy!" Ino shouted into the phone.

"Very Sexy" Naruto repeated brainlessly, he did even know what sexy meant.

The voicemail ended with the two of them laughing.

-  
>The next morning Sakura woke up.<br>She Sat up slowly in her bed and rubbed her eyes.  
>She had a late night last night.<br>She looked at her phone to check the time.  
>It was 12:45pm.<p>

"Shit" She said as she rubbed her face.  
>She then saw she had a voicemail.<br>Sakura looked confused as she put her phone on load speaker to hear it.

After listening to the whole voicemail Sakura stormed out of her apartment.

Moments later she arrived at Ino's door.  
>She knocked on it harshly.<p>

Ino lifted her head quickly.  
>She had just been woken up by the sound of Sakura knocking.<br>She looked around her.  
>Naruto was passed out on his back.<br>Ino had been passed out face down.  
>They had both fallen asleep before Ino had time to make it to her own room.<p>

The door knocked again, this time it was heavier.

Ino supported herself by leaning on the coach as she slowly rose to her feet.  
>She was actually fine, just a little groggy from being woken up so suddenly.<br>She opened the door to see a very angry Sakura.

"Morn-" Ino Began with a smile.

"YOU GOT HIM DRUNK?!" Sakura shouted at Ino.

"NO, I just gave him a bit of wine to calm his nerves, he was pretty highly strung!" Ino tried to brush the situation off.

Sakura pushed passed Ino and walked into the living room.  
>She saw Naruto passed out on the floor lying on his back.<br>She glared at Ino for a second and kneeled down to Naruto.

"Naruto" She called sweetly.  
>She shook him slightly.<br>He flickered his eyes.  
>Sakura nudged him lightly.<br>He finally opened them properly.  
>They were unfocused.<br>He sat up slowly.  
>He was very wobbly.<p>

Ino and Sakura watched him.  
>It was clear the drink yesterday had hit him hard.<br>Once he sat up fully he looked over at Sakura and Ino.  
>Sakura was a pink blur.<br>Naruto held his head with both hands.

"Are you alright Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Head. Hurts." Naruto groaned.  
>Sakura looked at Ino again and sighed.<p>

"How was I meant to know he'd be a lightweight?" Ino replied to Sakura's scowl.

"Cos he's never drank before!" Sakura spat back.

"Aaah" Naruto said.  
>Sakura kneeled down closer to Naruto.<p>

"He needs Orange juice" Sakura said to Ino while facing Naruto.

"I don't think I have any" Ino said scratching her head sheepishly.

"What if I make him a Bloody Mary?" Ino suggested.

"NO!" Sakura spun around in Ino's direction.  
>Ino flinched.<p>

"More alcohol is the last thing he needs" Sakura said standing up.

"I'm going down to the store to get some orange juice"  
>Sakura said grabbing her coat.<p>

"What if I-" Ino began to suggest.

"Just. Don't. Do anything" Sakura said with a smile twitching at her face.  
>Sakura was about to walk to the door when Naruto tugged on her coat.<br>Sakura looked down at him.  
>He was barely off the floor.<p>

"I go too?" Naruto Asked.  
>Sakura hesitated to answer.<p>

"You don't look too good Naruto I'm not sure—"

"But I want to" Naruto replied.

"But it-it's so unsafe Naruto" Sakura explained to Naruto.

"Ah Sakura just leave him go with you, the air would probably do him some good" Ino said.

"But what if..." Sakura started.

"How many people actually know that Naruto is the demon fox?" Ino pointed out to Sakura.  
>Sakura stayed Silent.<p>

"Throw a hoodie on him and you'll be fine!" Ino said with a smile.  
>Sakura looked over at Naruto.<p>

"Okay" She said with a warm smile.  
>Naruto stood up and walked after Sakura.<br>As they left Ino's doors he grabbed her hand.  
>Sakura turned and looked at him.<br>She smiled and the headed off together.

-  
>They walked into the small store down the street.<br>Naruto had his hood up which was frowned upon by the shop staff.  
>They didn't take there eyes of him for the entire time he and Sakura spent in the store.<p>

Sakura made her way to the counter.  
>Naruto walked up alongside her.<br>He looked sick as a dog.  
>Sakura handed the large orange juice carton over to the woman at the cash register.<br>She didn't take any notice of Sakura but kept a close eye on Naruto.

"Do I know you?" She spoke to Naruto in an unpleasant tone.  
>Sakura's eyes caught site of something alarming behind the desk.<br>The woman did indeed know Naruto; there was a wanted picture of him behind her desk.  
>Most likely handed out by the tracker ninja.<br>Sakura began to panic.

"Just that please!" She said pointing at the orange juice carton, Insinuating for the woman to go faster.  
>She threw a look at Sakura and returned to scanning the product.<p>

"Here you g—"

"Thanks." Sakura said quickly and grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him out.

"S-Sakura what's wrong?" Naruto called to her.  
>Sakura did not answer, and before they knew it they were at Ino's house again.<p>

"I better go home, here take this!" Sakura said handing Naruto the orange juice carton.  
>He took it in both his hands.<p>

"Take Care" Sakura leant over to kiss Naruto but then quickly hugged him instead.  
>This confused Naruto.<br>He walked inside Ino's house with a puzzled look on his face.

"Oh your back" Ino said as she turned towards Naruto.

"Are you alright?" She asked worriedly.  
>Naruto looked at Ino.<br>He didn't look well.  
>Ino took the orange juice carton and poured him a glass.<p>

"Drink up" She said with a cautious smile.  
>He took a swift gulp and finished the whole glass.<p>

"Yikes, it's a good thing you didn't do that with the wine" Ino joked.

"What is wrong with Sakura?" Naruto asked bluntly.

"Oh, that's what's wrong" Ino discovered.

"Listen, Naruto...Sakura isn't someone who opens up easily, She had pretty thick barriers up" Ino explained.

"Why?" Naruto didn't understand.

"To protect herself from getting hurt.  
>She really loves you Naruto, I can tell but she's terrified of losing you"<br>Naruto understood now.

"That's why even after what you done, She still couldn't stay away"

Naruto had mixed emotions.  
>He was incredibly happy that she felt this way about him<br>but he also felt guilty for making her feel like this.

"And constant craving, has always been" Ino sang whimsically, to fit Naruto's situation.  
>Naruto sat quietly.<br>"Feeling Better?" Ino asked Naruto.

"Yes..." Naruto said still in deep thought.

-  
>END OF CHAPTER 9<p>

Sorry for the rushed/bad ending but this chapter was getting waaay to long XD

Also I was considering making the ending of this fanfic sad? I kind of don't want to at the same time though? xD I hate sad endings but there much more memorable, Please give me your opinion on which ending would be better happy or sad? Thank you!

_****_


	10. Strangers with Familiar Faces

The next morning.  
>Ino woke up and stretched.<br>She got up and walked down the stairs.

"Naruto, are you awake?" She called into the living room from the stairs.  
>There was no answer.<p>

"Naruto, wake up its late!" She shouted eyes still half closed.  
>She opened the door to the living room and saw a scary sight.<p>

Naruto was hunched in a ball on the floor.  
>He looked as if he was in hideous pain.<br>One of his eyes was, once again, gone red and his whiskers thickened.  
>He was shaking violently and there was blood running down his face from his ear.<p>

Ino screamed in shock and ran to her phone.  
>She speed-dialled Sakura's number.<p>

"_Hello?"_

"Sakura, you have to come down here now!"

"On the way!"

Sakura didn't ask questions, she just got to Ino's house as soon as possible.

-  
>Ino bent down to Naruto.<p>

"A-are you ok?" Ino said with her eyes welling up with tears.

Naruto opened one eye and made contact with Ino.  
>He forced a smile on his face as he clenched at his stomach.<br>Sakura ran through the door and into the living room.  
>She saw Naruto in the same position as before, but worse.<br>He was in agony.

"Not again" Sakura uttered with a painful expression on her face.  
>She kneeled down to Naruto and took his hand in her own.<br>He clenched her hand.  
>Sakura closed her eyes tightly and held Naruto's hand tightly.<br>Eventually Naruto returned to normal.

Tears ran from Sakura's closed eyes.  
>Ino watched in horror.<br>Naruto was now unconscious.  
>"What was that?" Ino said breathlessly.<p>

"This happened to him before, I'm afraid of what it might be" Sakura said sadly as she turned Naruto on his back.

"His ear never bled before" Sakura said lightly touching his ear.

"What do are you afraid of?" Ino wondered.

"I think it might be the demon fox trying to take over his body but I really pray that its not" Sakura said cautiously.

**"AND SHE LET THIS STAY WITH ME!?"** Inner Ino shouted partly angry but partly worried about Naruto.

"W-Why don't you take him to a hospital?" Ino suggested.

"And say what? Sorry my friend is getting taken over by a demon can you fix him?" Sakura replied.

"Well technically you'd call him your boyfriend" Ino said with a smirk.

"NOT THE TIME" Sakura growled back at Ino.

"Well you can't just do nothing!" Ino retorted.  
>Sakura cleaned up his ear and rested his head on her lap.<p>

"You could..." Ino began.  
>Sakura looked at her.<p>

"What?" Sakura questioned.

"I heard in the hidden mist village...there's a black market doctor" Ino whispered.

"Black Market as in...?" Sakura wondered.

"Illegal Diagnosing" Ino whispered, as if someone would hear her.  
>Sakura gulped.<p>

"The hidden mist village is a fair distance from here so it'll probably be an overnight journey.

"I guess I don't have any other choice" Sakura said looking at Naruto.

"You'll probably have to leave ASAP" Ino explained.

"In Daylight?!" Sakura replied.

"Do you want to get there by tomorrow or not?!" Ino asked slightly joking.  
>Sakura sighed.<p>

"Do you have a jacket I could put on him?"

"You can take one of Shikamaru's, he leaves it hear a lot, he won't even know it's gone" Ino said with a sympathetic smile.

"Thank you" Sakura said sincerely as she took Ino's hand. 

-  
>Later Sakura and Naruto left Ino's house.<br>Naruto was in an oversized hoodie.  
>The sleeves were slightly too long for his arms and the hood covered down to over his eyes.<p>

"We'll be back in a day or so" Sakura said to Ino as she hugged her and walked away with Naruto.  
>She had to lead Naruto as he couldn't see so well.<br>She dragged him faster and faster to get them out of the hidden leaf village as quickly as possible so no one would stop them.

"Sakura, where are we going?" Naruto spoke perfectly.

"I'm taking you to see someone" Sakura said briefly.

Hours later it was getting dark.  
>Sakura looked up at the sky.<p>

"_We don't have time to sleep_" Sakura thought as she shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of the tiredness.  
>Naruto caught her hand.<p>

"You are tiered?" Naruto asked with his hood down now.

"A little, but its ok" Sakura shrugged it off.

"Please Sakura, if you're tired, rest." Naruto said sternly.  
>Sakura smiled softly.<p>

"Ok" She smiled.  
>Naruto gave his hoodie to Sakura to keep her warm.<p>

"Aren't you going to be cold?" Sakura worried.

"No" Naruto said with a smile as he tugged on his own jacket.

-  
>It was much later that night but Sakura didn't seem to be getting much sleep.<br>Worries seemed to be keeping her awake.

"_What if there's not a cure?" _Sakura worried.

"_**What if this 'illegal doctor' squeals on Naruto begin a demon?"**_  
>Inner Sakura said back.<br>This scared Sakura thoroughly.

"Wha-what would I do?!" Sakura thought anxiously.

**"Squeal back? I mean he's illegally prescribing pills and stuff right?!" **Inner Sakura tried to shed some light on the situation.

_"What's worse a demon or a black market doctor?"_ Sakura reciprocated.

**"Ok you got a point"**

Suddenly Sakura heard a noise.  
>She wasn't sure why, but she felt a sense of fear creeping up on her.<br>She slowly turned her head.

"Hello" Naruto said eerily.  
>It was clear this was no longer the Naruto she knew.<br>Sakura's eyes slowly made their way up to Naruto's face.  
>His eyes were red and his whiskers were thick.<br>The demon had taken over Naruto.

Sakura was petrified.  
>She began to breath faster and her heart rate increased.<p>

"Heheheh what's wrong beautiful?" he asked with a voice that oozed confidence. Very different to Naruto.  
>Sakura didn't answer.<br>He moved closer.  
>Sakura really wanted to move herself away from him, but for some reason she couldn't.<br>Was she frozen out of fear?  
>Did she want him closer to her?<br>Of course not that's crazy.  
>still...<p>

He approached her.  
>Naruto took his arm and put it around Sakura's waist.<br>There was very little space between them.  
>Sakura was quite scared of the aura that surrounded Naruto.<br>Yet she couldn't move away.  
>"You love him don't you?" He spoke threw a mischievous grin.<br>He spoke about Naruto as a different person even though they shared the same body, this intrigued Sakura.

Sakura stayed silent and looked into 'Naruto's' eye's,  
>she couldn't pull her eyes away.<br>He used his other hand to stroke her cheek.  
>Sakura closed her eyes as he did this.<p>

"I can see why he likes you so much" 'Naruto' Said.

"_He can speak perfect Japanese?" _Sakura noticed.  
>He laughed slightly.<br>He then proceeded to look her up and down.  
>He moved even closer.<br>Before Sakura knew it he had kissed her  
>and it wasn't like the first kiss she shared with Naruto.<br>He was much more dominant.

He leaned further into the kiss while pulling her closer.  
>Sakura surprisingly, didn't mind.<br>Did she like it?

"_Of course not that's crazy..." _Sakura thought to herself._  
><em>_**"Hmmmm" **_Inner Sakura said suspiciously.

"**You're still afraid of this 'Naruto'?" **

It was strange, because she really was still afraid of him.  
>However, also somehow attracted to him.<br>She was confused by her emotions.

They finally broke apart.  
>Sakura was in shock.<br>'Naruto' laughed at her expression, but it wasn't a friendly laugh.

"Wh-What do you want with me?" Sakura stuttered out.

"What makes you think I _**Want **_something?" 'Naruto' replied with a cheeky grin.  
>Sakura raised her eyebrow, she wasn't fooled.<p>

"Alright then, here's the situation, Naruto feels things right?"  
>'Naruto' Said.<br>Sakura raised both eyebrows with a deadpan face in un-amusement.

"So what he feels, I just act on it"

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"For kicks" 'Naruto' said with a spine chilling smile.

"_He's psychotic!" _Sakura thought to herself.

"See you soon, Gorgeous"  
>and with that, the demon fox was finished his escapades, for now.<br>Naruto opened his eyes, they were blue again.  
>Sakura stared at him.<p>

"You are awake?" Naruto asked her.

"_He doesn't recall?" _Sakura thought to herself.  
>There was a brief silence.<p>

"Well we should probably get some sleep, long day tomorrow!" Sakura said cautiously.  
>Naruto nodded happily and lied down to go to sleep.<br>Sakura was taken-back.

This side to Naruto was so different.

"_Naruto seems to have developed a split personality with the demon fox?"_ Sakura thought to herself.

"**Well he's blacking out and has drastic personality changes, but it's literally another perso- ... **_**thing**__** inside him, I'm not sure that counts as split personality...**_**" **Inner Sakura said.  
>Sakura scowled, she was deep in thought.<br>Soon enough she fell asleep.

Naruto was also asleep, but not for long.

"**Nice piece of eye candy you got there**_"_ A voice strangely like Naruto's growled in Naruto's mind.

Naruto turned around to see someone who looked almost identical to him.

"Kyuubi" Naruto labelled the man in front of him.

"**Great job, captain obvious**" Kyuubi Naruto said with a cocky smirk.

"Don't talk about Sakura that way!" Naruto warned the Kyuubi.

"**Why? I like her and she likes me too**" He said in an attempt to irritate Naruto.  
>Naruto gritted his teeth.<br>**"You see your problem is, you only feel things, **_**and I**_** on the other hand, act on feelings.**  
><strong>People tend to like me better<strong>." The Kyuubi said as he circled Naruto in an attempt to intimidate him.

"That's a lie! You ruin everything!" Naruto snapped back.

"**Ahem, No.  
>Everything you ever did right, that was all me<strong>" The Kyuubi said.

"N-No that's not true! You're just messing with my head!" Naruto said in disbelief.

"**Whatever you want to believe, Kiddo**" The Kyuubi said and with that he disappeared.

-  
>The sun rose the next morning.<br>Sakura and Naruto slowly woke up.  
>It took Sakura only moments to get ready to set out again.<p>

"Ready to go?" She said with a smile appearing across her face.

"Sure!" Naruto answered but he still couldn't shake what the Kyuubi had said to him out of his head.

Sakura walked ahead of Naruto trying to figure out the way.  
>Naruto trailed behind, wearing the hoodie once again in case they had a run-in with a traveller from the Leaf Village.<p>

_"__**She likes me too" **_

_"__**Everything you ever did right, that was all me"**_

_**"People tend to like me better"**_

the words from the Demon fox echoed in his mind as if they were freshly spoken to him.

"_What if—No, he's just trying to make me paranoid that's not going to happen" Naruto said determinedly._

This was it. They arrived at the place.  
>It looked like a normal house on the outskirts of the hidden mist village.<br>Sakura knocked on the door.  
>A man opened the door a small crack and popped his head out.<br>"What do you want?" His said bluntly.

"W-were here to see the...em doctor..." She said nervously squeezing her hands together.  
>The man raised his eyebrows.<p>

"Follow me" He said as he opened the door enough to let them in, but didn't open the door all the way.  
>Sakura held Naruto's hand as they walked in.<br>"Don't touch anything" Sakura whispered cautiously as she squeezed Naruto's hand.  
>They followed the man all the way down to the basement.<br>There was a man just finishing with a client.  
>He was dressed like a real doctor.<p>

"Hello there" He said very welcoming.

"Hi" Sakura said nervously.  
>Bringing Naruto closely behind.<br>Naruto was nervous too, why where they here?

"How can I help you?"

"Naruto can you wait outside for now?" Sakura asked politely  
>Naruto nodded slightly and walked up the stairs cautiously.<p>

"My...friend has a problem and I was told by someone I know that you might be able to fix it" Sakura said getting more and more nervous.

"What is it, trouble sleeping, drug addiction—"

"He has a Demon taking over his body" Sakura spat out with her eyes clenched shut.

The doctor was taken back.

"When does it happened? Is it triggered"

"Randomly, it happened twice yesterday, last night I woke up and the Demon had taken over his mind, but it was still his own body!" She tried her best to explain.

"I see" The doctor said in amazement.

"It's like he has a split personality" Sakura added.  
><em>This <em>made sense to the doctor.

"Ah now I see"  
>Sakura's face lit-up.<br>"So you can help him?" Sakura said happily.

"Well, usually therapy is a first attempted to cure a split-personality but pills can be just as effect" The doctor said looking threw his cabinet.

He took out to bottles filled with tiny pills.

"These should do the trick, have him take 3 a day for the next month, or so and we'll see how it goes, here's my number" the doctor said as he passed Sakura a card.

"Oh thank you" She said happily taking the pills from the man.  
>She turned to walk away and the man grabbed her arm.<br>She turned her head back to look at him.

"Now, I need to make sure you understand before you leave. These pills could have serious side effects" the doctor warned.

"_It can't be any worse than what's happening to him now can it?" _Sakura thought to herself.

"These are not to be taken lightly, they could start working straight away or they could take a couple of weeks. If he seems to get worse at all, stop him taking them immediately."

Sakura's worries began to re-surface.

"If that should happen you have my number, I will refer you to a specialist, but that is a last resort"

Sakura nodded her head still in shock.

"T-thank you" Sakura said as she walked away.  
>She walked out of the doctors and grabbed Naruto's hand.<p>

"Come on, we have a long walk home" She said with a smile hiding her worries.  
>Naruto was confused.<br>Why did they come all this way just for her to talk to a doctor for five minutes?

-

Near about a day and a half later Naruto and Sakura returned home, it was dark.

Naruto could tell Sakura seemed a little odd on the way home, she held up a pretty good front but Naruto knew her too well by now.  
>Just as Naruto was mulling his thoughts over Sakura took his hands, pulled him closer to her and sat on the floor with him.<p>

"Naruto…"

Naruto smiled back.

"I need you to listen to me carefully now, Ok?"

"Ok!" Naruto said curiously.  
>She opened her hand where she appeared to be holding a pill.<br>Naruto looked at the pill and back at Sakura.

"I need you to take this for me" Sakura said seriously.

"What is it" Naruto asked but not in his usual curious happy tone it was more of a statement.

"Its medicine, for the episodes you've been having" Sakura said with a gentile expression to try and keep Naruto calm.

"I don't want It."

"Naruto, it doesn't matter if you want it, you need it!"

"No!"

"Naruto!" Sakura said as she grabbed his hands in hers  
>"Please, just do this for me"<p>

"W-what do they do?"

"They're going to help you!" Sakura reassured him.

"How?"

"They'll make your ear stop bleeding and you'll stop having fits" Sakura explained.

"No I don't want to, it doesn't feel right" Naruto said shaking his head"

"Naruto would please just take it!" Sakura said almost shouting

"Why? I'm perfectly fine!" Naruto said raising his voice too.

"Because I don't want you to die!" Sakura shouted at him.  
>Naruto was speechless.<p>

"Naruto if you carry on like this you could die!"

there was a brief silence

"…I'm sorry" Naruto said as he took the tablet from her hands and swallowed it.  
>Sakura sighed in relief.<p>

"Thank you" Sakura said as she pulled Naruto in and hugged him tightly.

*END CHAPTER 10*

that's all for now! Sorry the chapter took so long! Super busy with work and college :s working on the next one as well though so shouldn't be as long! 


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